Effect of training and sudden detraining on the patellar tendon and its enthesis in rats

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Research Article

Antonio Frizziero¹  Marina Marini¹  Arsenio Veicsteinas²  Milena Fini³  Francesca Salamanna³  Nicola Maffulli⁴ 

[1] Department of Histology, Embryology and Applied Biology, University of Bologna, Italy;Department of Sport Science, Nutrition and Health, University of Milan, and Center of Sport Medicine, Don Gnocchi Foundation, Milan, Italy;Laboratory of Pre-clinic and Surgical Studies, Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, Bologna, Italy;Queen Mary University of London, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Center for Sports and Exercise Medicine London, United Kingdom;

关键词: Subchondral Bone;    Patellar Tendon;    Trained Group;    Untrained Group;    Tendon Thickness;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2474-12-20

 received in 2010-08-02, accepted in 2011-01-19,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDifferent conditions may alter tendon characteristics. Clinical evidence suggests that tendon injuries are more frequent in athletes that change type, intensity and duration of training. Aim of the study was the assessment of training and especially detraining on the patellar tendon (PT) and its enthesis.Methods27 male adult Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups: 20 rats were trained on a treadmill for 10 weeks. Of these, 10 rats were euthanized immediately after training (trained group), and 10 were caged without exercise for 4 weeks before being euthanized (de-trained group). The remaining 7 rats were used as controls (untrained rats). PT insertion, structure (collagen fiber organization and proteoglycan, PG, content), PT thickness, enthesis area, and subchondral bone volume at the enthesis were measured by histomorphometry and microtomography.ResultsBoth PG content and collagen fiber organization were significantly lower in untrained and detrained animals than in trained ones (p < 0.05 and p < 0.0001). In the detrained group, fiber organization and PG content were worse than that of the untrained groups and the untrained group showed a significantly higher score than the detrained group (p < 0.05). In the trained group, the PT was significantly thicker than in untrained group (p < 0.05). No significant differences in the enthesis area and subchondral bone volume among the three groups were seen.ConclusionsModerate exercise exerts a protective effect on the PT structure while sudden discontinuation of physical activity has a negative effect on tendons. The present results suggest that after a period of sudden de-training (such as after an injury) physical activity should be restarted with caution and with appropriate rehabilitation programs.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Frizziero et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.