The injury response of aged tendons in the absence of biglycan and decorin.

ABSTRACT: Recent studies have demonstrated that the small leucine-rich proteoglycans (SLRPs) biglycan and decorin impact tendon development, aging and healing in mature mice. However, despite the increased risk of tendon injury in the elderly, the role of SLRPs in tendon repair has not been investigated in aged animals. Therefore, our objective was to elucidate the influences of bigylcan and decorin on tendon healing in aged mice to relate our findings to previous work in mature mice. Since the processes of aging and healing are known to interact, our hypothesis was that aging mediates the role of biglycan and decorin on tendon healing. Patellar tendons from wild-type, biglycan-null and decorin-null mice were injured at 270 days using an established model. At 3 and 6 weeks post-surgery, structural,

SUBMITTER: Dunkman AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3994176 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature