J Korean Pain Soc.  2004 Jun;17(1):10-13. 10.3344/jkps.2004.17.1.10.

Effect of Carrageenan-induced Inflammatory Muscle Pain on Gastrocnemius Muscle Tendon in the Rat

• Heo H
• Lee YS
• Lee EM
• Lee KC

• KMID: 2104818
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3344/jkps.2004.17.1.10

Abstract

BACKGROUND
It has been suggested that muscle pain may induce skeletal muscle tendon damage, but the mechanism of this process is not known. The purpose of this study was to investigate gastrocnemius muscle tendon damage on Sprague-Dawley rats after inducing inflammatory muscle pain with carrageenan. METHODS: Rats were anesthetized with sevoflurane. Muscle pain was induced by injecting 0.1 ml of carrageenan into the gastrocnemius muscle. Rats were killed on 48 hours after carrageenan injection. Muscle tendons were fixed in 10% neural buffered formalin (NBF), dehydrated, embedded, and sectioned at 4mum. Sections were then stained with phosphotungstic acid hematoxylin (PTAH), mounted, and observed under a light microscope. RESULTS: Carrageenan-induced inflammatory muscle pain was associated with reduced tendon fiber and fibroblast numbers. CONCLUSIONS: This finding suggests that carrageenan-induced inflammatory muscle pain damages the gastrocnemius muscle tendon in the rat by reducing tendon fiber and fibroblast numbers.

Keyword

muscle pain; tendon of gastrocnemius muscle; tendon fiber

MeSH Terms

Animals
Carrageenan
Fibroblasts
Formaldehyde
Hematoxylin
Muscle, Skeletal*
Myalgia*
Phosphotungstic Acid
Rats*
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
Tendons*
Carrageenan
Formaldehyde
Hematoxylin
Phosphotungstic Acid