Effects of aging on the histology and biochemistry of rat tendon healing

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Jingjing Wang¹  Jiqiang Zhang²  Binghua Zhou³  Mei Zhou³  Kang Lu³  Youxing Shi³  Xuan Zhang³  Yupeng Guo³  Wan Chen³  Gang He³  Xuting Bian³  Hong Tang³  Yunjiao Wang³  Kanglai Tang³  Fan Lai³ 

[1] Department of Blood Transfusion, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University;Department of Neurobiology, Army Medical University;Department of Sports Medicine Center, Southwest Hospital, Army Medical University;

关键词: Tendon healing;    Aging;    Collagen synthesis;    Adipocyte accumulation;    Ectopic ossification;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12891-021-04838-w

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Introduction Tendon diseases and injuries are a serious problem for the aged population, often leading to pain, disability and a significant decline in quality of life. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of aging on biochemistry and histology during tendon healing and to provide a new strategy for improving tendon healing. Method A total of 24 Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into a young and an aged group. A rat patellar tendon defect model was used in this study. Tendon samples were collected at weeks 2 and 4, and hematoxylin-eosin, alcian blue and immunofluorescence staining were performed for histological analysis. Meanwhile, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blot were performed to evaluate the biochemical changes. Results The histological scores in aged rats were significantly lower than those in young rats. At the protein level, collagen synthesis-related markers Col-3, Matrix metalloproteinase-1 and Metallopeptidase Inhibitor 1(TIMP-1) were decreased at week 4 in aged rats compared with those of young rats. Though there was a decrease in the expression of the chondrogenic marker aggrecan at the protein level in aged tendon, the Micro-CT results from weeks 4 samples showed no significant difference(p>0.05) on the ectopic ossification between groups. Moreover, we found more adipocytes accumulated in the aged tendon defect with the Oil Red O staining and at the gene and protein levels the markers related to adipogenic differentiation. Conclusions Our findings indicate that tendon healing is impaired in aged rats and is characterized by a significantly lower histological score, decreased collagen synthesis and more adipocyte accumulation in patellar tendon after repair.

【 授权许可】

Unknown