Alcoholic extract of tarantula cubensis improves sharp ruptured tendon healing after primary repair in rabbits

This study was designed to investigate the effects of tarantula cubensis (TC) on the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) rupture after surgical anastomosis, on day 84-postinjury (DPI) in rabbits. Forty white New Zealand, mature, male rabbits were randomly and evenly divided into treated and control groups. After tenotomy and primary repair, the injured legs were immobilized for 2 weeks. TC was injected subcutaneously over the lesion on 3, 7, and 10 DPI. The control animals received subcutaneous injections of normal saline similarly. Animal's weight, tendon diameter, clinical status, radiographic and ultrasonographic evaluations were recorded at weekly intervals. The animals were euthanized on 84 DPI and the injured tendons and their normal contralaterals were evaluated for histopathologic, histomorphometric, ultrastructural, biomechanical, and percentage dry weight parameters. Treatment significantly improved the clinical performance, cell, collagen and tissue maturation, tissue alignment and remodeling, ultimate strength, stiffness, maximum stress, and dry weight content and decreased the tendon diameter, inflammation, adhesions and degeneration of the injured treated tendons compared to the injured control ones. The present findings showed that TC is effective on sharp ruptured SDFT in rabbits and it could be one of the novel therapeutic options in clinical trial studies.