Elmo is tickled to keep his eye

AniCell is a biotech company that extends the active life of animals through the development of quality biologic products that aid in wound management.  Its initial product focuses on the use of amnion-derived bioscaffold material and growth factors.  These revolutionary and all-natural products aid the wound healing cascade by using a bioscaffold as a mechanical barrier.

History of using amnion in eye wounds

Since as early as the 1940’s, when amniotic membrane was first administered for eye surgery, clinicians have acknowledged the benefits of using amniotic membrane to cover all manners of conjunctival defects. However, its use in surgery waned for several decades as effective use of amniotic membrane is ophthalmological surgery was limited due to lack of proper tissue preparation and preservation methods, then re-emerged in the mid 1990’s when more effective methods were developed (de Roth, 1940). Amniotic membrane is often used as a patch for corneal surface of the eye. In fact, the immunomodulatory properties of the eye and the placental membranes are so similar that they are often referred to as “parallel universes.” (Kheirkhan et al., 2008; Arora et al., 2005).

EquusCell AlloOcular

EquusCell AlloOcular is a sterilized, preserved amniotic contact. It is an allograft derived from amnion collected for ophthalmic usage during the birth of healthy foals. This amniotic eye contact has many natural properties such as anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-fibrotic. Besides its unique immune privilege advantage, this product is a rich, important source of extracellular matrix components such as collagen, hyaluronic acid, proteins, and growth factors.

Case Description – Impact injury to the eye

Dr. Erin Moore, a State Veterinary with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania used EquusCell’s AlloOcular on an eye that was diagnosed with descemetocele which was destined for enucleation (eye surgery to remove the eye) in 3 days. Her patient, Elmo, a 25-year-old gelding pony had seen the corneal ulcer continue to grow despite traditional treatments for more than two months. The AlloOcular disc membrane was placed and a lid tarsorrhaphy performed to ensure placement. The product worked very quickly with a noticeable improvement in 5 days and at 20 days there was corneal closure and some healing tissue on the cornea. Dr. Moore commented, “I would rather use this product right away for a corneal ulcer than put the horse and the owner through the difficult task of treating the eye 4-6 X daily. Amazing! Happy owner, happy pony, happy veterinarian!”

REFERENCES

Arora R, Mehta D, Jain V. 2005. Amniotic membrane transplantation in acute chemical burns. Eye(3):273-8.

de Rotth A. 1940. Plastic repair of conjunctival defects with fetal membrane. Arch Ophthal 23(3):522-5.

Kheirkhah A, Johnson DA, Paranjpe DR, Raju VK, Casas V, Tseng SC. 2008. Temporary sutureless amniotic membrane patch for acute alkaline burns. Arch Ophthalmol 126(8):1059-66.