Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery
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J Shoulder Elbow Surg · Sep 2007
Temporal expression of 8 growth factors in tendon-to-bone healing in a rat supraspinatus model.
Growth factors play an important role in supraspinatus tendon-to-bone healing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the temporal expression of 8 different growth factors in tendon-to-bone healing in an animal model. We hypothesize that growth factors exhibit unique temporal profiles that correlate to specific stages in the acute process of the supraspinatus tendon. ⋯ Immunohistochemical staining was done using antibodies for basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), bone morphogenetic protein 12 (BMP-12), BMP-13, BMP-14, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), platelet-derived growth factor-B (PDGF-B), and transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta1). Immunoassays showed an increase in the expression of all growth factors at 1 week, followed by a return to control or undetectable levels by 16 weeks in both the insertion and midsubstance. Future studies will investigate the different impacts of growth factor expression in tendon to bone healing.