Abstract
Vertical vibration (VV) is a whole-body vibration with mechanical loading that commonly used in rehabilitation and sports training to increase athlete muscle strength. Our previous study showed that low-magnitude, low-frequency VV at 8 Hz and 10 Hz increased myoblast myogenesis. Herein, we investigated whether a VV frequency at low-frequency 5–10 Hz has anabolic effects on tenocytes and improves tendon stiffness. In primary tenocytes, 10 Hz VV treatment increased the tenogenic marker gene expression of tenomodulin and extracellular matrix type I collagen but decreased decorin expression. qPCR and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) results showed that TGF-β1 expression was increased in tenocytes after 3 days of 10 Hz VV treatment in vitro and in Achilles tendons after 3 weeks in vivo. Tenomodulin expression and Achilles tendon stiffness were significantly increased in Achilles tendons after 3 weeks in vivo. We also showed that the TGF-β1 receptor inhibitor SB431542 (10 μM) decreased the expression of tenomodulin and type I collagen but increased the decorin expression in tenocytes. These results indicated that the 10 Hz VV stimulated anabolic effects in tenocytes by increasing TGF-β1 expression that subsequently increases the expression of tenomodulin and type I collagen, and increased the Achilles tendon stiffness. This study provides insight into the low-frequency 10 Hz VV treatment improves tendon properties and can minimizes the risk of ligament/tendon reinjure during rehabilitation.
Highlights
Whole-body vibration (WBV) is a mechanical loading and oscillation [1, 2] therapy that is broadly used in rehabilitation facilities to enhance the performance of frail, institutionalized patients [3] and in sports training to increase the muscle strength of athletes [4, 5]
Our previous study showed that low-magnitude Vertical vibration (VV) at 8–10 Hz treated group (10 Hz) for 3 days is enough for in vitro evaluation of the anabolic effect of VV on myoblasts [13], we evaluated the effect of VV stimulation on at 5–10 Hz for 3 days on tenocytes
We evaluated whether the VV treatment (5, 8,10 Hz) altered the gene expression of tendonogenic marker genes, such as the tenomodulin, tenascin, and decorin etc., compared to control cells (0 Hz) in tenocytes by using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR)
Summary
Whole-body vibration (WBV) is a mechanical loading and oscillation [1, 2] therapy that is broadly used in rehabilitation facilities to enhance the performance of frail, institutionalized patients [3] and in sports training to increase the muscle strength of athletes [4, 5]. Legerlotz et al (2007) showed that a 2 G, 25 Hz VV treatment for 12 weeks had no effect on either the mechanical properties or the cross-sectional area of rat Achilles tendons [10]. Low-magnitude, low-frequency VV (less than 20 Hz) may prevent vibration trauma and tendon injury during rehabilitation. It remains unclear whether a lower VV frequency, such as 5, 8 or 10 Hz, would have an anabolic effect on tenocytes. It is suggested that low-frequency VV may have effects on tenocytes, the anabolic effect of low-frequency VV (5–10 Hz) on tenocytes remains undefined
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