PRP Gel Helps Speed Healing Of Equine Skin Wounds

Horses with skin wounds that were treated with an autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) gel healed more quickly and had a reduced risk of infection and sepsis than horses with wounds not treated with the gel, reports The Horse.

Horses with wounds that aren't addressed quickly and effectively can have their lesions become chronic; these wounds can become infected and lead to sepsis, which can be life threatening.

Dr. Muhammad Talha Sajjad, with the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Punjab, Pakistan, showed that using PRP gel, which uses platelets obtained from the horse's own blood, can speed healing. He noted that platelets contain polypeptides, which have long amino acid chains that provide a rich source of growth factors involved in wound healing.

PRP gel has no side effects and can easily be used in the field.

Sajjad and a research team applied PRP gel to chronic wounds on 10 rescue horses that were between 5 and 10 years old. A control group of horses of similar age were treated with sterile saline.

They then evaluated the gel and the saline treatment using ultrasonography and cytokeratin staining, which identifies the extent of blood vessel and skin cell redevelopment. The horses were assessed on days 8, 40 and 60. On days 40 and 60, significant wound healing was seen in the horses that had had PRP gel applied to their wounds.

The scientists then evaluated how PRP gel made from blood donors healed chronic cutaneous wounds in donkeys. They again had a control group.

Donkeys treated with autologous PRP gel had wounds with more new blood vessels and increased fibroblasts compared to the control group. Healing occurred in a relatively short period of time, Sajjad noted.

Sajjad added that PRP gel use on chronic wounds like burns could be beneficial as those wounds leave the horses at higher risk of wound infection and sepsis. PRP gel is a cost-effective modality to accelerate wound healing by promoting wound contraction and collagen fiber stabilization, which can reduce risk of sepsis and infection, he concluded.