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Updated: Jul 4, 2026
Treatment of Ligament Constructs with Exercise-conditioned Serum: A Translational Tissue Engineering Model
Published on: June 11, 2017
A delayed bone-tendon junction healing model established for potential treatment of related sports injuries
1Department of Orthopaedics & Traumatology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, China.
Background:
Animal models for the study of tendinopathy and bone-tendon (B-T) junction repair have been established in the past for sports medicine research. As healing at the B-T junction is difficult and sometimes delayed, establishing a delayed B-T healing experimental model is therefore essential to study the efficacy of potential biophysical and biological interventions for treatment of B-T junction healing.
Objective:
To test the hypothesis that a delay in B-T healing could be modelled by shielding the B-T healing interface for the initial few weeks.
Methods:
Using an established partial patellectomy model in rabbits, the B-T healing interface was shielded with a latex slice for the first 4 postoperative weeks in mature female rabbits. The characteristics of delay in B-T repair (n = 10) compared with controls (n = 10) were evaluated at 8 and 12 postoperative weeks.
Results:
Radiology showed consistent delay in osteogenesis at the healing interface in all samples in the delayed healing group; growth of new bone was only 25.8% and 50.1% of that in the control group at weeks 8 and 12, respectively. Bone mineral density was 56.0% lower in the delayed healing group at week 8, but this difference diminished at week 12. The quality of B-T healing was poor in the delayed healing group, with 22.9% and 24.2% lower failure load than the control group at weeks 8 and 12, respectively. The healing quality was also reflected by histological findings.
Conclusions:
A delayed B-T healing experimental model was established for the first time for future sports medicine research.
