Sunday, September 13, 2009

Healthy & injured patellar tendons: microscopic images

The microscopic images below show healthy and injured patellar tendons. (If the images don't show below, try clicking within the image boxes.)

Image #1 -- Normal patellar tendon: collagen fibers oriented in an organized linear fashion. (Collagen is the principal protein of tendons, ligaments, and bones and in the normal state has great tensile strength.)




Image #2 -- Injured patellar tendon: disrupted collagen fibers with wavy orientation, fragmentation, and interspersed blood vessels. There is no inflammation present.


It is not known how eccentric exercise heals patellar tendinosis or reduces knee pain. Theoretical mechanisms include the possible remodeling of tendon, strengthening of tendon, and the elimination of the small blood vessels that occur in tendons affected by tendinosis.

(Images and commentary courtesy of Gréta Pathology. Slides prepared with hematoxylin & eosin stain.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This website is great thanks alot
both my knees look like picture 2 :(