Abstract
BackgroundIn this study, we evaluated the changes which occurred in the epiligament, an enveloping tissue of the ligament, during the ligament healing. We assessed the association of epiligament elements that could be involved in ligament healing.MethodsThirty-two 8-month old male Wistar rats were used in this study. In twenty-four of them the lateral collateral ligament of the knee joint was surgically transected and was allowed to heal spontaneously. The evaluation of the epiligament healing included light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.ResultsAt the eight, sixteenth and thirtieth day after injury, the animals were sacrificed and the ligaments were examined. Our results revealed that on the eight and sixteenth day post-injury the epiligament tissue is not completely regenerated. Till the thirtieth day after injury the epiligament is similar to normal, but not fully restored.ConclusionOur study offered a more complete description of the epiligament healing process and defined its important role in ligament healing. Thus, we provided a base for new strategies in ligament treatment.
Highlights
In this study, we evaluated the changes which occurred in the epiligament, an enveloping tissue of the ligament, during the ligament healing
Ligaments have been defined as dense bands of connective tissue that stabilize joints and guide joint motion [5,6]
We aimed to investigate both with light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) the EL changes from the midsubstance of the lateral collateral ligament (LCL), which occurred through the early ligament healing and their possible role in restoration of the ligament
Summary
We evaluated the changes which occurred in the epiligament, an enveloping tissue of the ligament, during the ligament healing. We assessed the association of epiligament elements that could be involved in ligament healing. Ligaments do not heal by regeneration but by a formation of scar tissue similar to other wound healing models [6]. The normal and healing ligaments are composed of two major components: the extracellular matrix composed commonly of type I collagen and ligament cells [6,7]. Mainly the animal models have gone into characterizing the extracellular matrix in both normal and injured ligaments [4,6,11,12,13,14], and only few of
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