Author(s)

Kelly Biancardini Gomes Barbato¹, Guilherme de Almeida², João da Costa², Libardo Rodriguez², Clara Raposo³, Hanna Dias³, Renata Paiva³, Liszt Palmeira de Oliveira², Jorge Carvalho⁴

¹Clinical and Experimental Pathophysiology Postgraduate Program, School of Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
²Department of Surgical Specialties, School of Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
³School of Medicine, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
⁴Department of Histology and Embriology, Roberto Alcantara Gomes Institute of Biology, State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rupture of the Achilles tendon is one of the most frequent tendon injuries in humans. However, there is no standard surgical technique thus far to reproduce complete rupture of this tendon in rats. Surgical procedures were performed in Wistar rats under light microscopy, with posterior longitudinal incision and preservation of the plantaris tendon. The animals were sacrificed on 2^nd and 8^th postoperative week and we used hematoxilin and eosin, picrosirius-red and Weigert’s resorcin-fuchsin to observe general tendon healing. The mean operative time was one minute and 24 seconds. Histological studies showed cellular proliferation and fibrillogenesis at two weeks, with decreased amounts of cellularity and elastic fibers at the 8^th week, besides changes in structural organization of collagen fibers. The complete Achilles tenotomy in rats, was improved under light microscopy and sparing the plantaris tendon. This surgical technique was simple and quick, showed signs of normal healing process, could be easily reproducible, and triggered translational researches in this area.

Achilles Tendon Rupture, Animal Experimentation, Wound Healing, Collagen, Elastic Tissue

Gomes Barbato, K. , de Almeida, G. , da Costa, J. , Rodriguez, L. , Raposo, C. , Dias, H. , Paiva, R. , de Oliveira, L. and Carvalho, J. (2018) Complete Achilles Tenotomy: A New Improved Experimental Surgical Technique in Rats. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 8, 1-11. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2018.81001.