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Mechanical, Compositional, and Structural Properties of the Post-natal Mouse Achilles Tendon

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Abstract

During post-natal development, tendons undergo a well orchestrated process whereby extensive structural and compositional changes occur in synchrony to produce a normal tissue. Conversely, during the repair response to injury, structural and compositional changes occur, but in this case, a mechanically inferior tendon is produced. As a result, the process of development has been postulated as a potential paradigm through which improved adult tissue healing may occur. In this study we measured the mechanical, compositional, and structural properties in the post-natal mouse Achilles tendon at 4, 7, 10, 14, 21, and 28 days old. Throughout post-natal development, the mechanical properties, collagen content, fibril diameter mean, and fibril diameter standard deviation increased. Biglycan expression decreased and decorin expression and fiber organization were unchanged. This study provides a new mouse model that can be used to quantitatively examine mechanical development, as well as compositional and structural changes and biological mechanisms, during post-natal tendon development. This model is advantageous due to the large number of genetically modified mice and commercially available assays that are not available in other animal models. A mouse model therefore allows future mechanistic studies to build on this work.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported, in whole or in part, by National Institutes of Health Grant AR050950 from NIAMS, supporting the Penn Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders and by National Institutes of Health Grant AR44745. The authors would like to thank David Beason for his expertise in helping develop the mechanical testing fixtures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania, 424 Stemmler Hall, 3450 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6081, USA

    Heather L. Ansorge & Louis J. Soslowsky

  2. Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Sheila Adams & David E. Birk

Authors
  1. Heather L. Ansorge
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  2. Sheila Adams
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  3. David E. Birk
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  4. Louis J. Soslowsky
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Correspondence to Louis J. Soslowsky.

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Associate Editor Eric M. Darling oversaw the review of this article.

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Ansorge, H.L., Adams, S., Birk, D.E. et al. Mechanical, Compositional, and Structural Properties of the Post-natal Mouse Achilles Tendon. Ann Biomed Eng 39, 1904–1913 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-011-0299-0

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