This video demonstrates a technique for injecting platelet-rich plasma (PRP) into the sectioned Achilles tendon of rats. A small segment is excised from the Achilles tendon of a recipient rat, the site is sutured, and the rat is allowed to recover. Concurrently, whole blood is collected from a donor rat and centrifuged to obtain PRP, which is then activated and injected into the sutured site of the recipient rat to induce tendon repair.
Protocol
All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board. 1. Animal Preparation Use 132 2-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 320-450 g (120 rats for experimentation and 12 rats for blood sampling, Figure 1). Fifteen rats for each group was enough for a power of 0.8 (80% chance of finding statistical significance if the specified effect exists). <li…
Representative Results
Figure 1: Experimental design of the study. Figure 2: Surgical Procedure. (a) The tendon complex after removal of the surrounding fascia. (b) Removal of the planta…