The effect of L-carnitine on experimental achilles tendon injury

Objective: In this study was aimed to investigate whether L-carnitine (LC) has a healing effect on experimental Achilles tendon injury. Material and Methods: 40 male Wistar Albino rats with a 36-week-old weight of 400-530 g were divided into four groups (n=10). No application was made to the control group. 100 mg/kg LC was administered intraperitoneally Pre-LC group, starting one week before the tendon injury, and Post-LC group following the tendon injury, every day throughout the experiment. No LC was given to the patient group after the injury. Weekly weight follow-up of the rats was done. Two functional walking tests were performed at the beginning and end of the experiment. The left Achilles tendons of the rats were removed for histopathological examination. Results: According to the results of the weekly weight follow-up; second week between control group and Post-LC group (p=0.218), third week between control group with Pre-LC group (p=0.035), and Post-LC group (p=0.011), fourth week between control group with the Pre-LC group (p=0.045), and the Post-LC group (p=0.005), fifth week post-LC group and control group between significantly were found (p=0.012). First walking test data were significantly different between the control group and the other groups (p<0.001), final walking test the control and patient groups (p=0.002). Histopathological examination, neovascularization, fibroblastic activity, and collagen fibril alignment parameters were significantly different between the patient group with Pre-LC group and Post-LC group (p<0.05) Conclusion: In this study was concluded that LC contributed to the histopathological and functional healing of the tendon after injury. Keywords: Experimental tendinopathy, L-carnitine, Histopathology, Inflammation.