Repair of patellar tendon injuries using a cell-collagen composite.

Collagen gels were seeded with rabbit bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and contracted onto sutures at initial cell densities of 1, 4, and 8 million cells/ml. These MSC-collagen composites were then implanted into full thickness, full length, central defects created in the patellar tendons of the animals providing the cells. These autologous repairs were compared to natural repair of identical defects on the contralateral side.