Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplant from MRL/MpJ Super-Healer Mice Does Not Improve Articular Cartilage Repair in the C57Bl/6 Strain.

Background: Articular cartilage has been the focus of multiple strategies to improve its regenerative/ repair capacity. The Murphy Roths Large (MRL/MpJ) "super-healer" mouse demonstrates an unusual enhanced regenerative capacity in many tissues and provides an opportunity to further study endogenous cartilage repair. The objective of this study was to test whether the super-healer phenotype could be transferred from MRL/MpJ to non-healer C57Bl/6 mice by allogeneic bone marrow transplant.

Plasticity of peptidergic innervation in healing rabbit medial collateral ligament.

Background: Denervation substantially impairs healing of the medial collateral ligament (MCL). Because normal ligaments are sparsely innervated, we hypothesized that neuropeptide-containing neurons would sprout or proliferate after ligament transection, followed by later regression with healing, in a manner analogous to blood vessels.

Methods: We transected the right MCL in 9 mature female New Zealand white rabbits and killed 3 rabbits at 2, 6 or 14 weeks.

Nerve growth factor improves ligament healing.

Previous work has shown that innervation participates in normal ligament healing. The present study was performed to determine if exogenous nerve growth factor (NGF) would improve the healing of injured ligament by promoting reinnervation, blood flow, and angiogenesis. Two groups of 30 Sprague-Dawley rats underwent unilateral medial collateral ligament transection (MCL).

Denervation alters mRNA levels of repair-associated genes in a rabbit medial collateral ligament injury model.

Previous experiments revealed that denervation impairs healing of the MCL. This suggested the hypothesis that denervation would decrease repair-associated mRNA levels in the injured MCL when compared with normally innervated injured MCL. Adult, skeletally mature female rabbits were assigned to one of four groups: unoperated control, femoral nerve transection alone (denervated controls), MCL partial tear or denervated MCL partial tear.

Correlation of healing capacity with vascular response in the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments of the rabbit.

In clinical terms, functional recovery after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is generally poorer than after medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury. In experimental studies of injury, the early phases of ligament healing require an augmented blood supply. We hypothesized that the differences in healing properties of the ACL and MCL would be reflected in the magnitude of their vascular responses to partial injury.

Vascular adaptation of intact joint stabilizing structures in the posterior cruciate ligament deficient rabbit knee.

Loss of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) of the knee has a significant impact on joint stability and biomechanical function. Changes in joint biomechanics may result in mal-adaptive tissue degeneration and functional alteration of supporting ligaments. This study examines the effects of joint laxity on the vascular physiology of the intact anterior cruciate (ACL) and medial collateral (MCL) ligaments after PCL transection in rabbits.

Vascular physiology and long-term healing of partial ligament tears.

Functional outcomes of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury are generally poorer than those of medial collateral ligament (MCL) tears. Following ligament damage, all phases of ligament healing require an adequate blood supply. We hypothesized that the differences in healing properties of the ACL and MCL would reflect their vascular responses to joint injury.