Purpose: Growth factors have some rolls in the healing of injured tissues, but the relationships are obscure. It is essential to isolate and identify the peptide growth factors responsible for the tissue response to injury. This is the purpose of our study.
Materials and Methods: In 12 rabbits, the flexor digitorum profundus tendons were partially divided. At each of four different time intervals following injury, three animals were sacrificed. The tissue segments were incubated. PDGF-AB, TGF-β1, TGF-β2, bFGF, and EGF were detected by ELISA technique.
Results: In 2nd day, there was a presence of PDGFAB. TGF-β’s were detected from the tendons in the 4th day. A small EGF was detected form the tendons at day 4, and a moderate amount from tendon sheaths at day 18. Independent of time, only detectable quantities of bFGF were present in the uninjured tendons and tendon sheaths.
Conclusion: This is the first demonstration of detecting and quantifying the in vivo synthesis of multiple growth factors using ELISA. These findings suggest that during the early stages of the healing process, the site of injury may produce considerable amount of growth factors, and that there is a time dependent sequential production of these growth factors.