Together with students of the HBLVA Rosensteingasse we want to look into a fundamental problem of current sports medicine: The treatment and healing of tendon injuries.
Tendon injuries are amongst the most frequently occurring musculoskeletal injuries in equine as well as human patients and especially in athletes of both species. Current therapies, however, do not lead to tendon regeneration but only to inferior scarring repair causing significantly reduced tendon elasticity and high reinjury rates (Smith, 2008).
This fact poses a fundamental problem in human as well as veterinary sports medicine. In both horses and humans, a considerable number of athletes are forced to end their career early due to tendon injuries (Jeffcott et al. 1982; Kasashima et al. 2004; Kvist et al. 1994; Lam et al. 2007; Malvankar et al. 2012). Especially racing thoroughbreds but also a considerable number of event, dressage and show jumping horses suffer from tendinopathies (Spaas et al. 2012). The equine superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) is the structure most at risk for suffering an injury (Thorpe et al. 2010). The incidence of SDFT tendinitis in horses is reported to be as high as 8-43% (Dowling et al., 2000). Injured tendons do not regenerate but form scar tissue with significantly inferior biomechanical properties. Therefore, in horses even after apparent initial recovery, reinjury rates of up to 80% are reported (Dowling et al., 2000).
In human professional as well as recreational athletes 30–50% of all sports related injuries affect tendons (Spaas et al. 2012). The Achilles tendon especially in elite runners is prone to injury with a lifetime risk of up to 52% and an annual incidence rate of 7–10,9% (de Jonge et al. 2011, Lopes et al. 2012). The incidence of Achilles tendon injuries has increased during recent decades (Goel et al. 2009; Thermann et al. 2000) probably owing to more strenuous hobbies and increased strain in competitive sports (Thermann et al. 2000). This is even more concerning as an association seems to exist between Achilles tendinopathies and diseases of our times such as obesity, diabetes mellitus and hypertension, or the supplemental use of estrogen and local or systemic steroids (Holmes et al. 2006).
In recent years the attention of regenerative medical research was drawn towards tendon treatments. It was shown that fetal tissues have the inherent capacity to regenerate without scar formation (Beredjiklian 2003; Favata et al. 2006). The regenerative potential of fetal tissue which is considered to be an inherent property of immature tissue (Ansorge et al. 2012) offers a model to understand scarless healing of tendon tissue (Beredjiklian 2003). Hence, a potential solution for improving adult tendon healing would be defining and utilizing the mechanisms involved in fetal healing (Ansorge et al. 2012; Beredjiklian 2003). It will further our understanding of the ideal environment for tendon regeneration and open new avenues for future approaches to tendon therapies.
Together with the students we will contribute to map these distinct differences. Supervised by scientific experts, the students will compare processes of adult and fetal tendon healing. Aim is to identify key factors in fetal tendon healing processes that are distinct from the adult counterparts. We also hope to further our understanding if and how the identified factors may be applicable for future therapeutic use. The sheep will serve as model for the horse and the human.
The study will be carried out in the laboratories of the project partners, embedding the students into an interdisciplinary team of scientists. Accompanied by specialists in each respective field of the project the students will have the opportunity to approach the scientific questions of interest using the most advanced techniques of secretome-, gene expression-, cell biological and histological analysis. It is our aim that the students not only gain knowledge but also obtain scientific results through their own work. They will get the chance to hands on use techniques they got to know at school and above that will get to know a variety of new ones. The envisaged project not only aims at testing new regenerative hypotheses but will also pave the way to raise new exciting research questions.
Link: Information on the Sparkling Science Programme
Literature
1. Ansorge H.L., Hsu J.E., Edelstein L., Adams S., Birk D.E., Soslowsky L.J. (2012 b); Recapitulation of the Achilles Tendon Mechanical Properties during Neonatal Development: A Study of Differential Healing during Two Stages of Development in a Mouse Model; Journal of Orthopaedic Research, March, 448-456
2. Beredjiklian P.K., Favata M., Cartmell J.S., Flanagan C.L., Crombleholme T.M., Soslowsky L.J. (2003); Regenerative Versus Reparative Healing in Tendon: A Study ofBiomechanical and Histological Properties in Fetal Sheep; Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Vol. 31, pp. 1143–1152
3. de Jonge S.,van den Berg C., de Vos R. J., van der Heide H. J. L., Weir A., Verhaar J. A. N., Bierma-Zeinstra S. M. A., Tol J. L. (2011); Incidence of midportion Achilles tendinopathy in the general population; Br J Sports Med;45:1026–1028.
4. Dowling,B.A., Dart,A.J., Hodgson,D.R., And Smith,R.K. (2000); Superficial Digital Flexor Tendonitis In The Horse; Equine Vet. J. 32, 369-378.
5. Favata M., Beredjiklian P.K., Zgonis M.H., Beason D.P., Crombleholme T.M., Jawad A.F., Soslowsky L.J. (2006); Regenerative properties of fetal sheep tendon are not adversely affected by transplantation into an adult environment; Journal of Orthopaedic Research, November; 2124-2132
6. Goel, D.P., Chan D., Watson K., Mohtadi N. (2009); Safety and hospital costs of Achilles tendon surgery: the serendipitous impact of a andomized clinical trial Can J Surg, Vol. 52, No. 6
7. Holmes G.B., Lin J. (2006); Etiologic factors associated with symptomatic achilles tendinopathy; Foot Ankle Int. Nov; 27(11):952-9.
8. Jeffcott L.B., Rossdale P.D., FreestoneJ., Frank C.J., Towers-Clark P.F. (1982); An assessment of wastage in Thoroughbred racing from conception to 4 years of age; Equine Veterinary Journal 14 (3), 185-198
9. Kasashima Y., Takahashi T., Smith R.K.W., Goodship A.E., Kuwano A., Ueno T., Hirano S. (2004); Prevalence of superficial digital flexor tendonitis and suspensory desmitis in Japanese Thoroughbred flat racehorses in 1999; Equine Veterinary Journal, 36 (4), 346-350
10. Kvist M., (1994); Achilles tendon injuries in athletes; Sports Med. Sep;18 (3):173-201
11. Lam, K.H., Parkin, T.D., Riggs, C.M. and Morgan, K.L. (2007) Descriptive analysis of retirement of Thoroughbred racehorses due to tendon injuries at the Hong Kong Jockey Club (1992-2004). Equine vet. J. 39, 143-148.
12. Lopes A.D., Hespanhol Junior L.C., Yeung S.S., Costa L.O.P. (2012); What are the Main Running-Related Musculoskeletal Injuries? Sports Med 2012; 42 (10) 891-905
13. Malvankar S., Kahn W.S. (2012); Evolution of the Achilles Tendon: The athlete`s Achilles heel?; Foot, Dec, 21 (4), 193-197
14. Smith,R.K. (2008); Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy For Equine Tendinopathy; Disabil. Rehabil. 30, 1752-1758.
15. Spaas J.H., Guest D.J., van de Walle G.R. (2012); Tendon Regeneration in Human and Equine Athletes; Sports Med 2012; 42, 871-890
16. Thermann H.,·Hüfner T., Tscherne H. (2000); Achillessehnenruptur; Der Orthopäde 29, 3, 235-250
17. Thorpe C.T., Clegg P.D., Birch H.L. (2010); A review of tendon injury: Why is the equine superficial digital flexor tendon most at risk? Equine Veterinary Journal 42 (2) 174-180