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[h=1]Systemic administration of IGF-I enhances healing in collagenous extracellular matrices: evaluation of loaded and unloaded ligaments[/h]
[h=2]BACKGROUND:[/h][FONT="]Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) plays a crucial role in wound healing and tissue repair. We tested the hypotheses that systemic administration of IGF-I, or growth hormone (GH), or both (GH+IGF-I) would improve healing in collagenous connective tissue, such as ligament. These hypotheses were examined in rats that were allowed unrestricted activity after injury and in animals that were subjected to hindlimb disuse. Male rats were assigned to three groups: ambulatory sham-control, ambulatory-healing, and hindlimb unloaded-healing. Ambulatory and hindlimb unloaded animals underwent surgical disruption of their knee medial collateral ligaments (MCLs), while sham surgeries were performed on control animals. Healing animals subcutaneously received systemic doses of either saline, GH, IGF-I, or GH+IGF-I. After 3 weeks, mechanical properties, cell and matrix morphology, and biochemical composition were examined in control and healing ligaments.
:RESULTS:
Tissues from ambulatory animals receiving only saline had significantly greater strength than tissue from saline receiving hindlimb unloaded animals. Addition of IGF-I significantly improved maximum force and ultimate stress in tissues from both ambulatory and hindlimb unloaded animals with significant increases in matrix organization and type-I collagen expression. Addition of GH alone did not have a significant effect on either group, while addition of GH+IGF-I significantly improved force, stress, and modulus values in MCLs from hindlimb unloaded animals. Force, stress, and modulus values in tissues from hindlimb unloaded animals receiving IGF-I or GH+IGF-I exceeded (or were equivalent to) values in tissues from ambulatory animals receiving only saline with greatly improved structural organization and significantly increased type-I collagen expression. Furthermore, levels of IGF-receptor were significantly increased in tissues from hindlimb unloaded animals treated with IGF-I.
CONCLUSION:
These results support two of our hypotheses that systemic administration of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I improve healing in collagenous tissue. Systemic administration of IGF-I improves healing in collagenous extracellular matrices from loaded and unloaded tissues. Growth hormone alone did not result in any significant improvement contrary to our hypothesis, while GH + IGF-I produced remarkable improvement in hindlimb unloaded animals.
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[FONT="]Initial body weights were not different between groups and no wound infections or other apparent complications associated with surgery were observed. All of the ambulatory animals returned to normal cage activity shortly after surgery, and no treatment complications were observed in the suspended animals. The hindlimb unloaded (HU) animals were not able to gain weight as rapidly as the ambulatory animals, thus significant differences (p < 0.0001) in body weight were observed between groups after 10 days of healing. The GH, IGF-I, and GH+IGF-I treatment increased body weight in HU animals (compared to HU animals receiving only saline) but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.49, 0.49, and 0.26, respectively). No significant differences in body weight were present between the ambulatory animals (all p values > 0.38). At tissue harvest all healing ligaments showed a bridging of the injury gap with translucent scar tissue. In the ambulatory animals receiving GH, three animals had hematomas and tissue adhesions in the surgical site. In all other animals no gross differences in the tissues or the surgical wound site were observed.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The location of structural failure in each ligament was examined, revealing that the majority of the femur-MCL-tibia complexes failed in the MCL proper, not at the ligament to bone insertion sites, nor by bone avulsion (Table (Table1).1). Sham control ligaments failed in the tibial third of the ligament during 100% of the tests. For all other groups, the primary location of failure was the scar region of the ligament. The only exceptions to this were one failure in the tibial third of the ligament in the Amb + IGF group, one tibial avulsion in the HU + Sal group, and one tibial avulsion in the HU + IGF group, indicating that a significant portion of the failure locations was in the scar region (all p values < 0.01). These results indicate the dominant effects in the measured mechanical properties are due to changes in ligamentous tissue and not in the insertions.
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Substantial differences in tissue mechanical properties were present between groups. Hindlimb unloading adversely affected ligament healing while IGF-I or GH+IGF-I had a substantial effect on ligament healing in either ambulatory or hindlimb unloaded animals. Maximum force (Fig. (Fig.1)1) was significantly different between tissues from Sham and both Amb + Sal and HU + Sal groups (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). Hindlimb unloaded animals had significantly decreased maximum force in the MCLs when compared to ambulatory healing animals (Amb + Sal; p = 0.03). In ambulatory animals the addition of IGF-I significantly improved maximum force values by approximately 60% when compared to ambulatory healing animals that received saline (p = 0.0002). Addition of IGF-I and GH+IGF-I in hindlimb unloaded animals significantly increased maximum force values (60% and 74%, respectively) when compared to HU + Sal animals (p = 0.0074 and p = 0.0013, respectively). In fact, addition of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I to hindlimb unloaded animals increased force to be comparable with Amb + Sal animals. Growth hormone alone did not have a significant effect within either the ambulatory or unloaded groups. However, in the unloaded group, GH increased maximum force and brought it closer to values in the Amb + Sal group, yet this increase was not statistically significant (p = 0.16). Ultimate stress (Fig. (Fig.2)2) was significantly decreased in tissues from both ambulatory healing and hindlimb unloaded healing animals when compared to sham control tissues (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). Ligaments from HU + Sal animals had ultimate stress values that were significantly lower than saline receiving ambulatory animals (p = 0.022). Addition of only IGF-I to ambulatory animals significantly increased ultimate stress when compared to Amb + Sal animals (p = 0.0077). Delivery of IGF-I and GH+IGF-I significantly increased ultimate stress in tissues from the hindlimb unloaded animals when compared to hindlimb unloaded (plus saline) animals (p = 0.0236 and p = 0.0202, respectively). In fact, ultimate stress values after the addition of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I to hindlimb unloaded animals was comparable to ultimate stress values in ambulatory animals receiving saline. In ambulatory animals, no statistically significant effect on ultimate stress values were seen after GH or GH+IGF-I was administered. No significant differences in strain at failure were present between groups. Elastic modulus (Fig. (Fig.3)3) was statistically different between IGF-I and saline treated ambulatory healing animals. Addition of IGF-I in ambulatory animals resulted in an elastic modulus that had an ~49% greater mean value (p = 0.049). In hindlimb unloaded animals the addition of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I resulted in a significant increase in modulus when compared to unloaded animals receiving saline (p = 0.049 and p = 0.014, respectively). Growth hormone alone had no significant effect on elastic modulus in either group.
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- - - Updated - - -
Seems that loaded tendon repair while administering HGH and IGF1 is the best. It seems that HGH alone does next to nothing for tendon, ligament repair.
[h=2]BACKGROUND:[/h][FONT="]Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) plays a crucial role in wound healing and tissue repair. We tested the hypotheses that systemic administration of IGF-I, or growth hormone (GH), or both (GH+IGF-I) would improve healing in collagenous connective tissue, such as ligament. These hypotheses were examined in rats that were allowed unrestricted activity after injury and in animals that were subjected to hindlimb disuse. Male rats were assigned to three groups: ambulatory sham-control, ambulatory-healing, and hindlimb unloaded-healing. Ambulatory and hindlimb unloaded animals underwent surgical disruption of their knee medial collateral ligaments (MCLs), while sham surgeries were performed on control animals. Healing animals subcutaneously received systemic doses of either saline, GH, IGF-I, or GH+IGF-I. After 3 weeks, mechanical properties, cell and matrix morphology, and biochemical composition were examined in control and healing ligaments.
:RESULTS:
Tissues from ambulatory animals receiving only saline had significantly greater strength than tissue from saline receiving hindlimb unloaded animals. Addition of IGF-I significantly improved maximum force and ultimate stress in tissues from both ambulatory and hindlimb unloaded animals with significant increases in matrix organization and type-I collagen expression. Addition of GH alone did not have a significant effect on either group, while addition of GH+IGF-I significantly improved force, stress, and modulus values in MCLs from hindlimb unloaded animals. Force, stress, and modulus values in tissues from hindlimb unloaded animals receiving IGF-I or GH+IGF-I exceeded (or were equivalent to) values in tissues from ambulatory animals receiving only saline with greatly improved structural organization and significantly increased type-I collagen expression. Furthermore, levels of IGF-receptor were significantly increased in tissues from hindlimb unloaded animals treated with IGF-I.
CONCLUSION:
These results support two of our hypotheses that systemic administration of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I improve healing in collagenous tissue. Systemic administration of IGF-I improves healing in collagenous extracellular matrices from loaded and unloaded tissues. Growth hormone alone did not result in any significant improvement contrary to our hypothesis, while GH + IGF-I produced remarkable improvement in hindlimb unloaded animals.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Initial body weights were not different between groups and no wound infections or other apparent complications associated with surgery were observed. All of the ambulatory animals returned to normal cage activity shortly after surgery, and no treatment complications were observed in the suspended animals. The hindlimb unloaded (HU) animals were not able to gain weight as rapidly as the ambulatory animals, thus significant differences (p < 0.0001) in body weight were observed between groups after 10 days of healing. The GH, IGF-I, and GH+IGF-I treatment increased body weight in HU animals (compared to HU animals receiving only saline) but this difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.49, 0.49, and 0.26, respectively). No significant differences in body weight were present between the ambulatory animals (all p values > 0.38). At tissue harvest all healing ligaments showed a bridging of the injury gap with translucent scar tissue. In the ambulatory animals receiving GH, three animals had hematomas and tissue adhesions in the surgical site. In all other animals no gross differences in the tissues or the surgical wound site were observed.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The location of structural failure in each ligament was examined, revealing that the majority of the femur-MCL-tibia complexes failed in the MCL proper, not at the ligament to bone insertion sites, nor by bone avulsion (Table (Table1).1). Sham control ligaments failed in the tibial third of the ligament during 100% of the tests. For all other groups, the primary location of failure was the scar region of the ligament. The only exceptions to this were one failure in the tibial third of the ligament in the Amb + IGF group, one tibial avulsion in the HU + Sal group, and one tibial avulsion in the HU + IGF group, indicating that a significant portion of the failure locations was in the scar region (all p values < 0.01). These results indicate the dominant effects in the measured mechanical properties are due to changes in ligamentous tissue and not in the insertions.
[/FONT]
Substantial differences in tissue mechanical properties were present between groups. Hindlimb unloading adversely affected ligament healing while IGF-I or GH+IGF-I had a substantial effect on ligament healing in either ambulatory or hindlimb unloaded animals. Maximum force (Fig. (Fig.1)1) was significantly different between tissues from Sham and both Amb + Sal and HU + Sal groups (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). Hindlimb unloaded animals had significantly decreased maximum force in the MCLs when compared to ambulatory healing animals (Amb + Sal; p = 0.03). In ambulatory animals the addition of IGF-I significantly improved maximum force values by approximately 60% when compared to ambulatory healing animals that received saline (p = 0.0002). Addition of IGF-I and GH+IGF-I in hindlimb unloaded animals significantly increased maximum force values (60% and 74%, respectively) when compared to HU + Sal animals (p = 0.0074 and p = 0.0013, respectively). In fact, addition of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I to hindlimb unloaded animals increased force to be comparable with Amb + Sal animals. Growth hormone alone did not have a significant effect within either the ambulatory or unloaded groups. However, in the unloaded group, GH increased maximum force and brought it closer to values in the Amb + Sal group, yet this increase was not statistically significant (p = 0.16). Ultimate stress (Fig. (Fig.2)2) was significantly decreased in tissues from both ambulatory healing and hindlimb unloaded healing animals when compared to sham control tissues (p = 0.0001 and p = 0.0001, respectively). Ligaments from HU + Sal animals had ultimate stress values that were significantly lower than saline receiving ambulatory animals (p = 0.022). Addition of only IGF-I to ambulatory animals significantly increased ultimate stress when compared to Amb + Sal animals (p = 0.0077). Delivery of IGF-I and GH+IGF-I significantly increased ultimate stress in tissues from the hindlimb unloaded animals when compared to hindlimb unloaded (plus saline) animals (p = 0.0236 and p = 0.0202, respectively). In fact, ultimate stress values after the addition of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I to hindlimb unloaded animals was comparable to ultimate stress values in ambulatory animals receiving saline. In ambulatory animals, no statistically significant effect on ultimate stress values were seen after GH or GH+IGF-I was administered. No significant differences in strain at failure were present between groups. Elastic modulus (Fig. (Fig.3)3) was statistically different between IGF-I and saline treated ambulatory healing animals. Addition of IGF-I in ambulatory animals resulted in an elastic modulus that had an ~49% greater mean value (p = 0.049). In hindlimb unloaded animals the addition of IGF-I or GH+IGF-I resulted in a significant increase in modulus when compared to unloaded animals receiving saline (p = 0.049 and p = 0.014, respectively). Growth hormone alone had no significant effect on elastic modulus in either group.
[FONT="]
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- - - Updated - - -
Seems that loaded tendon repair while administering HGH and IGF1 is the best. It seems that HGH alone does next to nothing for tendon, ligament repair.
