Kaymaz Burak, Gölge Umut Hatay, Ozyalvaclı Gulzade, Kömürcü Erkam, Goksel Ferdi, Mermerkaya Musa Ugur, Doral Mahmut Nedim
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Medical School, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Kepez, Çanakkale, Turkey.
Department of Pathology, Medical School, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey.
Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2016 Dec;24(12):3738-3744. doi: 10.1007/s00167-015-3617-5. Epub 2015 May 1.
Tendinous lesions are among the most frequent pathologies encountered in sportsmen. The objectives of new treatments are to improve the healing process and reduce the recovery time. Boron plays an important role in the wound repair process by increasing components of extracellular matrix and angiogenesis. This animal study aimed to investigate the effect of boric acid on healing of the Achilles tendon.
The right Achilles tendons of 40 rats were completely sectioned, and the rats were randomly divided into five groups. Each group consisted of eight rats. Groups 1 and 2 were oral boric acid groups with the doses of 4 and 8 mg/kg/day boric acid, respectively. Group 3 was the local boric acid group (8 mg/kg boric acid intratendinous injection). Group 4 was administered both oral and local boric acid (8 mg/kg/day orally and 8 mg/kg boric acid intratendinous injection), and group 5 was the control group with no boric acid application. At the end of the fourth week, all the rats were killed and histopathological examination of the Achilles tendon repair site was made.
Histopathological examination of the tissue sections revealed more properly oriented collagen fibres, more normal cellular distribution of tenocytes and more properly organized vascular bundles in group 1 and group 2, which were the groups administered oral boric acid. Pathological sum scores of groups 1 and 2 were less than those of the other groups, and the differences between the oral boric acid groups (group 1 and group 2) and the other three groups (groups 3, 4 and 5) were statistically significant (p = 0.001).
As boric acid is safe and toxicity even after very high doses is unusual, oral boric acid may be used as an agent to improve the healing process of tendon injuries. However, biomechanical tests should also be performed to show the effect of boric acid on strength and endurance of the tendon before it can be used in clinical practice.
肌腱损伤是运动员中最常见的病理状况之一。新治疗方法的目标是改善愈合过程并缩短恢复时间。硼通过增加细胞外基质成分和促进血管生成，在伤口修复过程中发挥重要作用。本动物研究旨在探讨硼酸对跟腱愈合的影响。
将40只大鼠的右侧跟腱完全切断，并随机分为五组。每组8只大鼠。第1组和第2组为口服硼酸组，硼酸剂量分别为4和8毫克/千克/天。第3组为局部硼酸组（8毫克/千克硼酸腱内注射）。第4组同时给予口服和局部硼酸（口服8毫克/千克/天，腱内注射8毫克/千克硼酸），第5组为未应用硼酸的对照组。在第四周结束时，处死所有大鼠，并对跟腱修复部位进行组织病理学检查。
组织切片的组织病理学检查显示，口服硼酸的第1组和第2组中，胶原纤维排列更整齐，腱细胞的细胞分布更正常，血管束组织更有序。第1组和第2组的病理总分低于其他组，口服硼酸组（第1组和第2组）与其他三组（第3组、第4组和第5组）之间的差异具有统计学意义（p = 0.001）。
由于硼酸安全，即使高剂量使用也很少有毒性，口服硼酸可作为一种改善肌腱损伤愈合过程的药物。然而，在临床应用之前，还应进行生物力学测试，以显示硼酸对肌腱强度和耐力的影响。
