Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor-111 (VEGF-111) and tendon healing: preliminary results in a rat model of tendon injury

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Tendon lesions are among the most frequent muscu loskeletal pathologies. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is known to regulate angiogenesis. VEGF-111, a biologically active and proteolysis-resis tant splice variant of this family, was recently identi fied. This study aimed at evaluating whether VEGF 111 could have a therapeutic interest in tendon pathologies. Surgical section of one Achilles tendon of rats was performed before a local injection of ei ther saline or VEGF-111. After 5, 15 and 30 days, the Achilles tendons of 10 rats of both groups were sam pled and submitted to a biomechanical tensile test. The force necessary to induce tendon rupture was greater for tendons of the VEGF-111 group (p<0.05) while the section areas of the tendons were similar. The mechanical stress was similar at 5 and 15 days in the both groups but was improved for the VEGF 111 group at day 30 (p <0.001). No difference was ob served in the mRNA expression of collagen III, tenomodulin and MMP-9. In conclusion, we observed that a local injection of VEGF-111 improves the early phases of the healing process of rat tendons after a surgical section. Further confirmatory experimenta tions are needed to consolidate our results.