Endogenous Adult Telomerase Positive Stem Cells Increase in Equine Peripheral Blood Following Exercise

Abstract

Stout, et al., 2007 reported a base-line level of primitive endogenous adult Telomerase Positive Stem Cells (aTPSCs) circulating within adult porcine peripheral blood which increased dramatically, i.e., 23.5-fold, after just 90 minutes of trauma. Ongoing studies from our laboratory have shown the presence of similar primitive stem cells in adult equine blood and that the base-line levels of stem cells varied according to the particular breed of horse. The current study was undertaken to test the hypothesis that aTPSCs would increase in number in the peripheral blood following stress in the same horse. Stress in this study was defined as moderate exercise, i.e., 10 minutes of cantering. Blood withdrawal followed the guidelines of Fort Valley State University’s IACUC. Adult horses had their blood withdrawn immediately prior to and immediately after exercising. The blood was obtained by venipuncture. Isolated aTPSCs were assayed by trypan blue staining, CEA-CAM-1 for totipotent stem cells and SSEA-4 for pluripotent stem cells. This study demonstrates that moderate exercise will increase the level of these primitive pluripotent stem cells in the blood of adult equines. Studies are ongoing to address their functional significance during injury and repair.