Chitosan – a promising biomaterial in veterinary medicine

Biomaterials originate from natural substances and are widely used in medicine. Although they have to satisfy many conditions to be useful for treatment, more and more research is carried out with new types of biomaterials that can help replace various tissues such as tendons and bones. Chitosan is a very promising material, revealing unique features, which makes it useful for veterinary medicine – antimicrobial activity, biocompatibility, biodegradability. It is also known as good scaffold material, especially when combined with other polymers. This article describes chitosan as a biomaterial and tissue engineering scaffold with possible applications in veterinary medicine

Biomechanical study in vitro on the use of self-designed external fixator in diaphyseal III metacarpal fractures in horses

Diaphyseal fractures of the III metacarpal bone represent 22% of all fractures of the long bones in horses. Treatment of such cases is difficult. The most popular solution used in these types of fractures is two plates applied directly to the bone surface, but they are not applicable on contaminated and infected fractures. External fixators are quite commonly used in human medicine, although in veterinary practice there is no typical stabilizer designed for the treatment of diaphyseal fractures of the III metacarpal bone so far. In this study, an external semicircular fixator of our own design was used and in vitro strength tests were conducted to determine the maximum force which would lead to the destruction of non-fractured bone and fractured bone treated with the stabilizer. On the basis of the strength tests, we can conclude that the stabilizer can be strong enough to allow the horse to stand up after surgery. It also has many favorable features which make it easy to assemble and to take care of a wound, while being safe enough for the animal at the same tim