The fate of isolated segments of flexor tendons within the digital sheath--a study in synovial nutrition.

A study has been made of the fate of isolated, devascularised segments of profundus tendon replaced within the synovial flexor sheaths in the front paws of adult rabbits. In all the experiments the segments were found to have survived as viable "loose bodies" and no adhesions developed. Active remodelling processes occurred over the cut ends of the segments and degenerative changes were confined to the most deeply lying tissue. The experiments confirm the existence of a synovial fluid pathway of nutrition, concerned, it is suggested, with nourishing the more superficial layers of the tendon.