Tissue engineered tendon material may address tendon shortages in cases of mutilating hand injuries. Tenocytes from rabbit flexor tendon can be successfully seeded onto acellularized tendons that are then used as tendon constructs. These tissue engineered constructs in vivo exhibit a population of tenocyte-like cells, however it is not known to what extent these cells are of donor or recipient origin. Furthermore, the temporal distribution is also not known.
In this study, tenocytes were extracted from male rabbits (New Zealand, 7–8 lbs., Harlan), cultured in vitro, and seeded onto acellularized rabbit forepaw flexor tendons. These tendons were then transplanted to a zone II-defect in female recipients. Tendons were examined after 3, 6, 12, and 30 weeks (n = 3 for each group) using fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to detect the Y-chromosome in the male donor cells.
The donor male tenocytes populate the epi- and endotenon of the grafts to a larger extent than the recipient female tenocytes at 3 and 6 weeks. The donor and recipient tenocytes are present jointly in the grafts until 12 weeks. At 30 weeks no donor tenocytes were visible in the grafts; all cells were recipient tenocyte-like cells.
The presence of cells in tissue engineered tendon grafts has been shown to add to the strength of the constructs in vitro. Donor male cells survive in the tendon construct until 12 weeks post transplantation. This finding underlines the importance of seeding flexor tendon constructs with viable cells so that the graft can withstand the in vivo forces during early healing. In addition, this study shows that recipient cells can migrate into and re-populate the tendon construct. In the future, stronger constructs may allow the initiation of motion earlier in order to lessen adhesion formation.
Obstetric brachial plexus injuries (OBPI) are a lesion peripheral nervous system. For this injury motor and autonomic dysfunctions are typical but also sensory disorders appear. Up till now the main research considered the treatment of motor dysfunction within the upper extremity. The dysfunction of the sensory was not the centre of scientists attention because of their theoretically minor meaning. Sensory impairments are invisible but extremely important for the functions. A lot of patients with OBPI have a spatial neglect syndrome due to or lack on sensation within the lesion upper extremity. The aim of this study was to examine sensory dysfunction in the area of innervated by median nerve at children and teenagers with OBPI, then to analyze these disorders with relation to the type of the injury, the functional of the hand and past reconstruction of the nerves.
Research involved the group of 32 patients (aged 6–17 years) with OBPI, improved in Pediatric Hospital in Dziekanó w Lesny near of Warsaw and Rehabilitation Centre for Children and Teenagers "STOCER" in Konstancin.
Patients were divided in two groups with and without reconstruction of the nerves or muscles.
Five types of sensibility were tested (vibration, placement, touch, pain, temperature) on the palmer side of the 2nd finger of the healthy hand and than on the other hand on the side of the lesion.
To these analysis were classified exclusively patients without disorders of the sensibility in the healthy side, because of the possibility of the exclusion sensory dysfunction consequent from other reasons than OBPI.
More often appear pain and temperature paraesthesia (superiorly pain paraesthesia). We can observe less degree of dysaesthesis of pain and temperature sensibility when the hand in the side lesion is more functional. The higher degree of dysfunction of the temperature paraesthesia appears among patients with nerves reconstruction than among those without nerves reconstruction or with muscle transfer. Physiotherapy should consider stimulations of the different kind of sensibility within the lesion extremity at patients with OBPI.