Background: An Achilles tendon rupture is a common orthopaedic injury in athletes and other people. Therefore, it is essential to investigate methods that may yield beneficial results for tendon healing by addressing the inflammatory and gene expression aspects of the healing process. Purpose: The objective of this study was to examine the effect of combining aerobic exercise and omega-3 supplementation on the process of Achilles tendon healing in male Wistar rats. Study Design: Controlled laboratory study. Methods: For the purpose of this experiment, 50 male Wistar rats were randomly assigned to 5 groups, with each group containing 10 rats. These groups were identified as a sham group (surgery without tendon damage), a negative control group (tendon damage), and 3 experimental groups: exercise group (tendon damage + aerobic exercise), omega-3 group (tendon damage + omega-3 supplement), and exercise + omega-3 group (tendon damage + aerobic exercise + omega-3 supplement). The Achilles tendon was cut and subsequently repaired through a surgical intervention. Beginning the day after the injury, the groups receiving omega-3 received a dose of 4.6 g/kg EPA [eicosapentaenoic acid] and 3.8 g/kg DHA [docosahexaenoic acid] orally each day, and those in the exercise groups ran on a treadmill 6 days a week. At 48 hours after completing the protocol, both tissue and blood samples were taken and immediately sent for biochemical (TNF-α, IL-1β, MDA, and SOD), gene expression (MMP-3, MMP-9, and SCX), histological (hematoxylin and eosin and Masson trichrome staining), and tensile analyses. Rats were also administered the Achilles functional index at various time points. Results: The histological results revealed a marked improvement in the arrangement of cells and collagen in the extracellular matrix of the exercise + omega-3 group, displaying a notably uniform and condensed alignment of collagen fibers compared with the other groups, which exhibited a lack of organization. Biochemical results showed that TNF-α, IL-1β, and MDA levels were significantly reduced in the exercise + omega-3 group ( P < .05). On the other hand, a significant increase in the Achilles functional index score was shown in the exercise + omega-3 group at all time points ( P < .05). In the same group, real-time polymerase chain reaction results demonstrated that the expression of MMP-3 and SCX genes increased and that the expression of the MMP-9 gene decreased ( P < .05). Conclusion: Aerobic exercise with omega-3 supplementation was more beneficial for healing a surgically cut Achilles tendon in a rat model than aerobic exercise or omega-3 supplementation alone. Clinical Relevance: Our findings suggest that omega-3 supplementation combined with aerobic exercise after an Achilles tendon injury may be able to accelerate the process of Achilles tendon regeneration and healing.

中文翻译：

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使用 omega-3 补充剂进行有氧运动对肌腱愈合过程的影响

背景： 跟腱断裂是运动员和其他人常见的骨科损伤。因此，必须研究通过解决愈合过程中的炎症和基因表达方面可能为肌腱愈合产生有益结果的方法。目的： 本研究的目的是检查有氧运动和 omega-3 补充剂相结合对雄性 Wistar 大鼠跟腱愈合过程的影响。研究设计： 对照实验室研究。方法： 为本实验目的，将 50 只雄性 Wistar 大鼠随机分为 5 组，每组 10 只大鼠。这些组被确定为假手术组 （手术无肌腱损伤）、阴性对照组 （肌腱损伤） 和 3 个实验组：运动组 （肌腱损伤 + 有氧运动）、omega-3 组 （肌腱损伤 + omega-3 补充剂） 和运动 + omega-3 组 （肌腱损伤 + 有氧运动 + omega-3 补充剂）。跟腱被切断，随后通过手术干预进行修复。从受伤后的第二天开始，接受 omega-3 的组每天口服 4.6 g/kg EPA [二十碳五烯酸] 和 3.8 g/kg DHA [二十二碳六烯酸]，运动组每周 6 天在跑步机上跑步。完成方案后 48 小时，采集组织和血液样本并立即送去进行生化（TNF-α、IL-1β、MDA 和 SOD）、基因表达（MMP-3、MMP-9 和 SCX）、组织学（苏木精和伊红以及 Masson 三色染色）和拉伸分析。大鼠还在不同时间点给予跟腱功能指数。 结果： 组织学结果显示，运动 + omega-3 组细胞外基质中细胞和胶原蛋白的排列有明显改善，与其他表现出缺乏组织的组相比，胶原纤维显示出明显均匀和浓缩的排列。生化结果显示，运动 + omega-3 组 TNF-α、IL-1β 和 MDA 水平显著降低 （ P < .05）。另一方面，运动 + omega-3 组在所有时间点的跟腱功能指数评分均显示显着增加 （P < .05）。在同一组中，实时聚合酶链反应结果显示 MMP-3 和 SCX 基因的表达增加，MMP-9 基因的表达降低 （ P < .05）。结论：在大鼠模型中，补充 omega-3 的有氧运动比单独补充有氧运动或 omega-3 补充剂更有利于手术切割的跟腱愈合。临床相关性：我们的研究结果表明，跟腱损伤后补充 omega-3 结合有氧运动可能能够加速跟腱再生和愈合的过程。