Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 19, 2026

Ex vivo Mechanical Loading of Tendon
Published on: May 28, 2007
[The multifibrillar network of the tendon sliding system]
1Institut aquitain de la main, 56, allée des Tulipes, 33600 Bordeaux-Pessac, France. adf.guimberteau@wanadoo.fr
Abstract:
After carrying out 215 in vivo dissections, 65 of which were video-recorded, the authors propose that the current representation of the notion of the tendon sliding is incorrect. It is suggested that tendon sliding is explained by the existence of a mechanical adaptable multimicrovacuolar and fibrillar tissue. This tissue enables complete sliding without any dynamic influence on the surrounding tissues. The new theory is based on a polyhedric fibrillar framework, apparently chaotic and complex, subtending the microvacuolar gel, a concept that is to be found everywhere in the human body.
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