TY - JOUR
T1 - Characteristics of Sonography in a Rat Achilles Tendinopathy Model
T2 - Possible Non-invasive Predictors of Biomechanics
AU - Lee, Su Ya
AU - Chieh, Hsiao Feng
AU - Lin, Chien Ju
AU - Jou, I. Ming
AU - Sun, Yung Nien
AU - Kuo, Li Chieh
AU - Wu, Po Ting
AU - Su, Fong Chin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic changes of histopathology, biomechanical properties, echo intensity, and ultrasound features in a collagenase-induced tendinopathy model of rat Achilles tendons, and to examine the associations among biomechanical properties, echo intensity, and ultrasound features. Forty-two rats received an ultrasound-guided collagenase injection on their left Achilles tendons, and needle puncture on the right ones as the control. At four, eight, and twelve weeks post-injury, the tendons were examined via measurements of their biomechanical properties, histopathological and ultrasonographic characteristics. The injured tendons showed significantly higher histopathological scores, lower Young's modulus, and higher ultrasound feature scores than the those of control ones throughout the study period. Up to week 12, all injured tendons showed defective healing. The neovascularization score had a significant negative linear association with the failure stress and Young's modulus. Maximum normalized echo intensity had a significant positive linear association with maximum strain. Therefore, neovascularization and maximum normalized echo intensity are associated with mechanically altered tendinopathic tendons. Non-invasive ultrasound methodology, including echo intensity and ultrasound feature scores, may provide useful information about biomechanical properties of tendinopathic tendons.
AB - The purpose of this study was to investigate the dynamic changes of histopathology, biomechanical properties, echo intensity, and ultrasound features in a collagenase-induced tendinopathy model of rat Achilles tendons, and to examine the associations among biomechanical properties, echo intensity, and ultrasound features. Forty-two rats received an ultrasound-guided collagenase injection on their left Achilles tendons, and needle puncture on the right ones as the control. At four, eight, and twelve weeks post-injury, the tendons were examined via measurements of their biomechanical properties, histopathological and ultrasonographic characteristics. The injured tendons showed significantly higher histopathological scores, lower Young's modulus, and higher ultrasound feature scores than the those of control ones throughout the study period. Up to week 12, all injured tendons showed defective healing. The neovascularization score had a significant negative linear association with the failure stress and Young's modulus. Maximum normalized echo intensity had a significant positive linear association with maximum strain. Therefore, neovascularization and maximum normalized echo intensity are associated with mechanically altered tendinopathic tendons. Non-invasive ultrasound methodology, including echo intensity and ultrasound feature scores, may provide useful information about biomechanical properties of tendinopathic tendons.
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U2 - 10.1038/s41598-017-05466-y
DO - 10.1038/s41598-017-05466-y
M3 - Article
C2 - 28698601
AN - SCOPUS:85023172161
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 7
JO - Scientific reports
JF - Scientific reports
IS - 1
M1 - 5100
ER -