The ability of Ligament gel to regenerate ligaments and promote healing

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K09406
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56020:Orthopedics-related
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Nakase Junsuke 金沢大学, 附属病院, 助教 (50584843)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 鳥越 甲順 福井医療大学, 保健医療学部, 教授 (50126603) ; 葛巻 徹 東海大学, 工学部, 教授 (50396909)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 靱帯断裂 / 再生医療 / テンドンゲル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The maturity of ligament and tendon gels was found to increase with longer storage time. On the other hand, ligament gels were found to be less productive than tendon gels. This was thought to be one of the reasons why ligaments were less likely to heal than tendons, and led to further research using tendon gel rather than ligament gel. Based on the above, we concluded that tendon gel is suitable for repairing ligament tissue, and conducted histological and mechanical evaluation using tendon gel in a rabbit medial collateral ligament tear model. The results showed that the collagen fibers regenerated faster in the tendon gel group, and the stiffness and tensile strength of the tendon gel group increased 1.7 and 2.9 times, respectively, compared to the control group in the specimens at 2 weeks after surgery. These results indicate that tendon gel with a storage period of 3 days promotes healing of the medial collateral ligament.

Free Research Field

再生医療

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究成果の学術的社会的意義としては、腱断端から分泌されるゲル状物質（テンドンゲル）が、再生医療材料として使用できる可能性を示したことである。具体的には、靱帯修復期間を2週間短縮させる可能性がある。テンドンゲルの成分解析は進行中であるが、膠原線維のもとと考えることが出来るため、靱帯や腱組織に対する新しい再生医療材料となりうる可能性がある。