Effects of herbal application on the ultrastructural morphology of repairing medial collateral ligament in a rat model.
The present study investigated the effects of an external herbal application on the ultrastructural morphology of repairing medial collateral ligament (MCL) in a rat model. Eight MCL-transected/herb-treated rats (group 1) were compared with 8 MCL-transected/placebo-treated controls (group 2) and 8 MCL-intact/placebo-treated rats (group 3). At 3 and 6 weeks posttransection, MCL specimens were examined under electron microscope. With analysis of 370,709 collagen fibrils, all herb-treated animals had significantly larger fibrils than the controls (p < .001) at 6 weeks postinjury. The mean diameter of those peripheral collagen fibrils of group 1 was larger than the sham group (p < .001). The mass-averaged diameters of group 1 (50.49 to 143.07 nm) and group 3 (59.69 to 188.88 nm) were larger than group 2 (50.59 to 121.94 nm). The area coverage by collagen fibrils ranged from 46.86 to 94.97% for group 1 and 43.70 to 68.08%f or group 3 as compared with 40.01 to 50.77% for group 2. Mode obliquity was 0.56 to 0.84 among groups. We concluded that herbal remedy increases collagen fibril size of healing rat MCLs homogeneously at 6 weeks posttransection.
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Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
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D000818:Animals; D003094:Collagen / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D015552:Injections, Intralesional; D008297:Male; D017888:Medial Collateral Ligament, Knee / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000293:injuries / Q000648:ultrastructure; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
D010936:Plant Extracts; D003094:Collagen