Systemic vanadate ingestion improves early medial collateral ligament repair

The medial collateral ligament (MCL) of the knee is frequently injured in sport. Repair is slow and often complicated by scar formation which may result in impairment of function. Vanadate is a promising efficacious treatment for tissue injuries and this study aimed to examine its effect in rats on the histological and biomechanical features of MCL healing. Rats received either 0.025 g/kg per day vanadate or equivalent amounts of drinking water (control) by intragastric gavage for 1 week before and 2 weeks after wounding. Repaired sites were dissected out for histological and biomechanical tests 28 days after wounding. Fibre bundles in the vanadate-treated group were uniform and evenly spaced. Furthermore, vanadate significantly increased the diameter of collagen fibrils in the healing tissue. Stiffness and ultimate force of the femur-medial collateral ligament-tibia complex for the vanadate-treated group were significantly higher than for the controls. The results suggest that vanadate significantly improves the histological and biomechanical properties of healing MCL.