UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Uphill treadmill running does not induce histopathological changes in the rat Achilles tendon Dirks, Rachel C; Richard, Jeffrey S; Fearon, Angela M; Scott, Alexander; Koch, Lauren G; Britton, Steven L; Warden, Stuart J

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether uphill treadmill running in rats created histopathological changes within the Achilles tendon consistent with Achilles tendinosis in humans. Methods: Twenty-six mature rats selectively bred for high-capacity running were divided into run and cage control groups. Run group rats ran on a treadmill at a 15° incline for a maximum duration of 1 hr/d, 5 d/wk for 9 weeks at increasing speeds, while rats in the cage control group maintained normal cage activity. After 9 weeks, Achilles tendons were harvested for histological processing and semi-quantitative histopathological analysis. Results: There were no significant group differences within each of the individual histopathological categories assessed (all p ≥ 0.16) or for total histopathological score (p = 0.14). Conclusions: Uphill treadmill running in rats selectively bred for high-capacity running did not generate Achilles tendon changes consistent with the histopathological presentation of Achilles tendinosis in humans.

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Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)