The Effect of L-Carnitine on Experimental Achilles Tendon Injury

Abstract

Background. L-carnitine (LC), which has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect, is especially consumed by sportmans to increase muscle mass recently. Therefore, the functional, histopathological effects of LC on experimental Achilles tendon injury were investigated in this study. Methods. Forty male Wistar Albino rats were randomly divided into four groups (n = 10). A tendon injury model was created by clamping the left Achilles tendon of all rats except the control group. Tendon Injury Group (TIG) and the Control group did not receive LC treatment. LC (100 mg/kg/day, intraperitoneally) was started to administer one week before the injury model in pre-LC group and the same day of injury in post-LC group following the establishment of model for four weeks. After the tendon injury and at the end of the experiment, rats in all groups were subjected to a Gait test (GT) twice. On the 30 th day of injury, the rats were sacrificed, and left Achilles tendons were dissected for histopathological analysis. Results. Initial GT data were significantly different between the control and other groups (p < 0.001). The final GT data were significantly different only between the Control and TIG (p = 0.002). Histopathological examination revealed that neovascularization, fibroblastic activity, and collagen fibril sequencing parameters were found to be significantly different amongst the TIG and pre-LC group, and post-LC group (p < 0.05). Conclusions. LC contributes to the tendon healing by histopathologically and functionally.