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Joint Diseases and
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Original Article · Open access

The effect of papaverine on tendon healing and adhesion in rats following Achilles tendon repair

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Erdem Can

Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Ercis Şehit Rıdvan Çevik State Hospital, Van, Türkiye

ORCID: 0000-0003-1467-1633

Yasar Mahsut Dincel

Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Tekirdağ, Türkiye

ORCID: 0000-0001-6576-1802

Derya Karabulut

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Istanbul University

ORCID: 0000-0002-1903-9525

Sevil Karabag

Department of Pathology, Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University Faculty of Medicine, Tekirdağ, Türkiye

ORCID: 0000-0002-8855-3798

Yunus Ziya Arslan

Department of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Turkish

ORCID: 0000-0002-1861-9368

Abstract

Objectives: The study aimed to examine the histopathological and biomechanical effects of papaverine administered intraperitoneally and locally on Achilles tendon healing in a rat model.

Materials and methods: Forty-eight adult male SpragueDawley rats (range, 300 to 400 g) were used in this study conducted between October and November 2022. The rats were divided into three groups, with each group further subdivided into two for sacrifice on either the 15th (early period) or 30th (late period) day after surgery. The first (control) group received no treatment following Achilles tendon repair, while papaverine was intraperitoneally administered every other day for 10 days in the second group and locally in the third group after surgery. On the 15th and 30th days, the rats were sacrificed, and their Achilles tendons were subjected to biomechanical testing and histopathological evaluation.

Results: Histopathologically, there were no significant differences among the groups on the 15th day. However, on the 30th day, the locally applied papaverine group exhibited superior histopathological outcomes compared to the control group (p<0.05). Concerning the highest tensile strength values before rupture, the biomechanical assessment showed that the group receiving local papaverine treatment in the early period and both the group with systemic papaverine treatment and the one with local papaverine treatment in the late period displayed a statistically significant advantage compared to the control group (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Locally administered papaverine has positive biomechanical effects in the early period and exhibits a positive correlation both histopathologically and biomechanically in the late period. Novel therapeutic options may be provided for patients through these findings.

Declarations

Ethics Committee Approval

This research, conducted at the Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University - Experimental Animals Application and Research Center, received approval from the Tekirdağ Namık Kemal University Animal Experiments Local Ethics Committee on September 26, 2022, under decision number T2022-979.

Author Contributions

Idea/concept: E.C., Y.M.D.; Design: E.C.; Control/supervision: Y.M.D.; Data collection and/or processing, analysis and/or interpretation: E.C., D.K, S.K., Y.Z.A., Writing the article, references and funding: E.C.; Literature review: E.C., Y.M.D, S.K.; Critical review, materials: Y.M.D., D.K., Y.Z.A.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

Financial Disclosure

The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.

Data Sharing Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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