Experimental repair of the medial collateral ligament of the knee in rabbits.

In order to know the reparative process of the bone-ligament junction of the medial collateral ligament, the mechanical properties and histological findings of the medial collateral bone-ligament-bone preparations from adult rabbits were examined at 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 16, 20 postoperative weeks. There were certain relations between the histological findings and the strength of the repaired medial collateral ligaments, but the healing process of the mechanical properties was slower and at half a year follow up the maximum load could only reach 3/4 of the control.