Sensory nerve endings in ligaments play an important role for the proprioceptive function. Clinical trials show that the sense of body position does not fully recover in the knee joint after reconstructive surgery of the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. The aim of this study is to identify sensory corpuscles in autogenous and allogenous transplants of the ligament and to compare their quantity between the used allografts and autografts. Thirty-three patients were included in this study. Three patellar tendon allografts, 14 patellar tendon autografts and 12 semitendinosus autografts were harvested during revision surgery after traumatic rerupture of the graft. The control consisted of 4 healthy anterior cruciate ligaments after fresh rupture. After haematoxylin staining, immunohistochemical analysis was performed using antibodies against S100, p75 and PGP9.5. Microscopical examination was carried out, and the number of mechanoreceptors was counted. Statistical analysis was performed using the Mann-Whitney U test. Two types of mechanoreceptors were identified in each graft: Ruffini corpuscles and free nerve endings. The number of Ruffini corpuscles per square centimeter was the highest in the control. Comparing the grafts, the highest number of receptors could be detected in the semitendinosus autograft. The amount of free nerve endings was higher in the semitendinosus and patellar tendon autografts than in the control; the allografts showed the lowest number of receptors. With increasing time after reconstruction, the number of both types of receptors showed a decrease in the semitendinosus graft, whereas it increased in the patellar tendon graft and allograft. The number of mechanoreceptors in the semitendinosus and patellar tendon graft decreased over time after graft-failure, whereas it increased slightly in the allograft. This study was the first to identify mechanoreceptors in human transplants of the anterior cruciate ligament. The partial increase in the number of receptors over time after reconstruction could indicate a reinnervation of the grafts.

中文翻译：

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人体前交叉韧带移植物中感觉小体的免疫组织化学分析。

韧带中的感觉神经末梢对于本体感受功能起着重要作用。临床试验表明，在前交叉韧带破裂的重建手术后，膝关节的体位不能完全恢复。这项研究的目的是确定自体和异体韧带移植物中的感觉小体，并比较使用过的同种异体移植物和自体移植物之间的感觉小体。本研究纳入了33例患者。移植物外伤性破裂后的翻修手术中，共收获了3例pa腱同种异体移植物，14例pa腱自体移植物和12例半腱肌自体移植物。对照组由新鲜破裂后的4条健康的前交叉韧带组成。苏木精染色后，使用针对S100的抗体进行免疫组织化学分析，p75和PGP9.5。进行显微镜检查，并计数机械感受器的数量。使用Mann-Whitney U检验进行统计分析。在每个移植物中鉴定出两种类型的机械感受器：Ruffini小体和自由神经末梢。每平方厘米的Ruffini小球数量是对照组中最高的。比较移植物，在半腱肌自体移植物中可以检测到最高数量的受体。半腱肌和pa腱自体移植的游离神经末梢数量高于对照组。同种异体移植的受体数量最少。随着重建后时间的增加，两种类型的受体数量在半腱肌移植物中均减少，而在tell腱移植物和同种异体移植物中则增加。半腱肌和pa腱移植物中的机械感受器数量在移植失败后随时间而减少，而同种异体移植中则略有增加。这项研究是第一个在人类前交叉韧带移植中鉴定机械受体的研究。重建后随着时间推移受体数量的部分增加可能表明移植物已重新神经支配。