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Post-injury tendon mechanics are not affected by tamoxifen treatment
Zakary M Beach1, Ashley K Fung1, Stephanie N Weiss1
1McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Purpose:
A growing interest in the mechanisms that govern tendon healing has resulted in the develop-ment of tools, such as the tamoxifen-inducible mouse knockdown model, to address these questions. However, tamoxifen is a selective estrogen receptor modulator and may interfere with the tendon healing process. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of tamoxifen on post-injury tendon mechanics in wild-type mice.
Methods:
The mice underwent treatment at the time of injury using an established mouse injury model and the injured tendons were evaluated 3 weeks post-injury. The treatment contained tamoxifen suspended in corn oil and was compared to a treatment with only corn oil, as well as mice with no treatment. Tendons were evaluated by measuring the quasi-static and viscoelastic mechanics, collagen fiber realignment, cellularity, and nuclear morphology.
Results:
Mechanical testing of the tendons post-injury revealed no changes to viscoelastic mechanics, quasi-static mechanics, or collagen realignment during loading after tamoxifen treatment with the dosage regimen utilized (three daily injections of 4.5 mg/40 g body weight). Additionally, histological analysis revealed no changes to cellularity or cell nuclear shape.
Conclusion:
Overall, this study revealed that tamoxifen treatment at the time of tendon injury did not result in changes to tendon mechanics or the histological parameters at 3 weeks post-injury.
