The Effects of Autologous Adipose-Derived Stem Cell (ADSC) on Optimizing Achilles Tendon Repair in Rat

Background and Aim: Tendon injury is a common and challengingproblem which often requires surgical intervention to repair the damagedtendon. Most important factor in having more favorable outcome is thestrength of repaired tendon and lack of adherence to the adjacent tissues.The aim of this study is to survey the effects of adipose-derived stem cellson optimizing Achilles tendon repair in the rat.Methods: Thirty-six rats randomly divided into 3 groups. Autologousfat-derived stem cells were prepared from the inguinal fat pad of 12rats. Achilles tendon was cut in all 3 groups. Autologous stem cell wasinjected into both cut ends of tendon before repair in the first group. Inthe second group normal saline and in the third group culture mediumwithout cell was injected in the cut ends of the tendons. Then all thetendons were repaired with the same method. Strength and quality ofrepair were surveyed by tensiometry and histopathology evaluation after30 days of repair.Results: Tensiometry results showed stem cell group had the most tendonstrength with a statistically significant difference to other groups (P value= 0.017). However the histopathology indices such as the amount ofcollagen, fibroblasts, Collagen arrangement, vascularization, the numberof inflammatory cells and foreign body reaction were not significantlydifferent.Conclusion: This study showed that stem cells could significantlyimprove the biomechanics of tendon repair. However, according tothe histopathology results, this conclusion is obscure and needs morestudies.

کلیدواژه ها:

Autologous ، Adipose-derived stem cells ، Achilles tendon ، Rat