Flexor tendon specimens in organ cultures.

The healing process of sectioned and subsequently sutured rabbit tendon segments was studied over a period of 3 weeks, using an organ culture technique. In one series, the tendon specimens were exposed to a chemically defined culture medium for nutrition. In two control series, the specimens were kept in the synovial cavity of the knee joint for varying periods of time, before being transferred to the culture medium. The tendons remained viable in the medium. The superficial tendon cells demonstrated the morphological characteristics of fibroblasts, but cellular fibroplasia could not be detected. The two control series subjected to synovia prior to transfer into the culture medium showed superficial repair similar to the findings in previous studies on healing capacity of tendon nourished by synovia. The investigation supports the hypothesis that superficial tendon cells are fibroblasts with a potential for repair and that synovia is an efficient nutrient medium. Thus, the beneficial effects on repair exercised by the tendon sheath function should be utilized in flexor tendon surgery.