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Alterations of Glycosaminoglycans During Patellar Tendon Autograft Healing After Posterior Cruciate Ligament Replacement

A Biochemical Study in a Sheep Model

Ulrich Bosch, MD^,, Norbert Gässler, PhD and Brigitte Decker, PhD^||

Department of Traumasurgery, Hannover, Germany
Department of Clinical Chemistry II, Hannover, Germany
^|| Laboratory of Cell Biology and Electron Microscopy, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Presented at the 22nd annual meeting of the AOSSM, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, June 1996.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Ulrich Bosch, MD, Department of Traumasurgery, Hannover Medical School, Postbox 610180, D-30623 Hannover, Germany

In each of 30 skeletally mature sheep, the posterior cruciate ligament was replaced in one knee by a free patellar tendon autograft using the central third of the ipsilateral patellar tendon. The healing autograft was compared with the contralateral posterior cruciate ligament and the patellar tendons and posterior cruciate ligaments of nonoperated animals. The content of glycosaminoglycans, chondroitin sulfate disaccharides, and dermatan sulfate disaccharides was assessed biochemically at six periods during the 2 years after surgery. The total glycosaminoglycans and chondroitin sulfate disaccharides in the native posterior cruciate ligament was threefold that in the native patellar tendon. In contrast, the amount of dermatan sulfate disaccharides was similar in both the native tendon and native ligament. In the autograft, glycosaminoglycans and chondroitin sulfate disaccharides increased significantly to about 144% and 172%, respectively, of the contralateral posterior cruciate ligament at Week 104. The dermatan sulfate disaccharides in the autograft also showed a significant increase up to Week 26, followed by a remarkable but not significant decrease until the end of the study. In the contralateral posterior cruciate ligament, the dermatan sulfate disaccharides increased significantly between Weeks 52 and 104. Thus, the amount of dermatan sulfate disaccharides was similar in both the autograft and the contralateral posterior cruciate ligament after 2 years. This study suggests that the patellar tendon autograft did not completely assume the biochemical properties of the posterior cruciate ligament.

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