Acta Cir Bras. 2017;32(10):827-835 

Biomechanical study of the effect of platelet rich plasma on the treatment of medial collateral ligament lesion in rabbits1 

Eduardo Louzada da CostaI, Luiz Eduardo Moreira TeixeiraII, Bruno Janno PáduaIII, Ivana Duval de AraújoIV, Leonardo de Souza VasconcellosV, Luide Scalioni Borges DiasVI

IMSc, Department of Orthopedics, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil. Concep on and design of the study; acquisi on, analysis and interpreta on of data; manuscript wri ng; cri cal revision.
IIPhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Locomo ve Apparatus, UFMG, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil. Concep on and design of the study; acquisi on, analysis and interpreta on of data; manuscript wri ng; cri cal revision.

IIIMD, Department of Orthopedics, UFMG, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil. Acquisi on, analysis and interpreta on of data. IVPhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Surgery, UFMG, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil. Concep on and design of the study; acquisi on, analysis and interpreta on of data; manuscript wri ng; cri cal revision.
VPhD, Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Department, UFMG, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil. Acquisi on, analysis and interpreta on of data; manuscript wri ng; cri cal revision.

VIGraduate student, School of Medicine, UFMG, Belo Horizonte-MG, Brazil. Acquisi on, analysis and interpreta on of data.

Abstract 

Purpose: To evaluate the use of platelet-rich plasma in the early stages of healing of trauma c injury of the medial collateral ligament in the knee of rabbits.
Methods: Thirty rabbits were subjected to surgical lesion of the medial collateral ligament. Of these, 16 were treated with platelet-rich plasma and 14 with saline (control). A er 3 and 6 weeks of treatment, 50% of the animals from each group were sacri ced, and biomechanical tests were performed on the injured ligament to compare the tensile strength between the two groups.

Results: Platelet-rich plasma signi cantly increased the tensile strength of the ligament in the groups treated a er3 and 6 weeks. In the group treated with platelet-rich plasma vs. saline, the tensile strength values were 3192.5 ± 189.7 g/f vs. 2851.1 ± 193.1 g/f at3 weeks (p = 0.005) and 5915.6 ± 832.0 g/f vs. 4187.6 ± 512.9 g/f at 6 weeks (p = 0.0001).

Conclusion: The use of platelet-rich plasma at the injury site accelerated ligament healing in an animal model, demonstrated by an increase in the tensile strength of the medial collateral ligament.
Key words: Medial Collateral Ligament, Knee. Knee Injuries. Rabbits.