Imagine a veterinarian harvesting stem cells from a horse: He or she inserts a needle into the horse’s sternum or hip, and thick red bone marrow fills the syringe. But can you picture a veterinarian harvesting less commonly used adipose-, or fat-, derived stem cells? And how effective are they? Joseph Yocum, DVM, Dipl. AVBP, owner of Green Tree Veterinary Service and the Centre for Regenerative Medicine in Danville, Ky., presented a review of adipose-derived stem cells at the 2011 North American Veterinary Regenerative Medicine Conference, held June 2-4 in Lexington, Ky.

Yocum explained that research indicates adipose tissue is a reliable source from which to collect stem cell aspirates.

"Adipose tissue is easy to harvest, yields a large number of cells, and, thus, does not require tissue expansion and has the potential to differentiate into a number of specialized cells of mesodermal origin," Yocum explained.

Adipose-derived cells can be harvested from a few different areas on the horse’s body; however, the most common place from which to harvest is the hindquarters–particularly from the fat located near the horse’s tailhead. Yocum noted that, "Fat can be harvested from the inguinal (groin) area, and there is some discussion of harvesting from the neck, but I don’t know of anyone that has tried that yet. The tailhead area is the easiest since the inguinal area requires general anesthesia