The effects of tenotomy on the morphology of the rabbit digastric muscle.

The digastric muscles of 17 New Zealand White rabbits were subjected to tenotomy. A sham operation was performed on six animals. Groups of three or four animals were killed at one hour, one day, 10 days, 30 days, and 60 days after the tenotomy. There was evidence of tendon regeneration by 10 days, and by 30 days the tendon appeared normal macroscopically. The tendon was normal in microscopic appearance in the animals examined at 60 days. Muscle belly length and fascicle length decreased after the tenotomy, and the angle of pinnation increased. Sarcomere lengths underwent a transient decrease within one hour of the tenotomy, but then were as long as or longer than those in the sham-operated group. A biomechanical analysis suggests that the net result of the morphological changes produced by the tenotomy leads to a reduction in force capability of only about 12%. The shorter belly and fascicle lengths, however, may diminish the effective range over which effective force can be exerted.