Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To explore the biological characteristics of tendon and performance of repair materials for tendon defects.
METHODS: CNKI and Medline database were retrieved by computer for papers published between 1985 and 2009. Literature concerning biological characteristics and performance of repair materials for tendon defects were selected. Meta analysis, irrespective papers or repetitiveness studies were excluded. Totally 29 papers were included after screening and evaluating including 16 in Chinese and 13 in English. The biological characteristics of tendon and performance of repair materials were summarized.
RESULTS: Nutrition for tendon mainly supplied by blood, and the tendon fatigue would be occurred with repeatability loads. Compared to other tissue-engineered materials, tendon possesses self-repair ability. The biological characteristics of tendon was closely associated with collagen fiber, which exhibited similar stress-strain curves, namely, characteristics of viscoelasticity body—hysteresis, creep and stress relaxation. Currently, main repair materials for tendon defects comprised autogenous tendons, allogeneic tendon, artificial tendon and tissue engineered tendon.
CONCLUSION: Many materials can be used in tendon repair with distinct advantage and disadvantage; however, there is not an ideal repair method. With the development of tissue and gene engineering, the optimal substitute for tendon would be prepared.