Subprojeto 10 – Tendon adaptation to exercise and anabolic androgens

Participantes: Rita de Cássia Marqueti (UFSCAR), Hernandes F Carvalho(Unicamp), Heloisa Sobreiro Selistre Araújo (UFSCAR)

Tendons are very plastic structures. We have studied the rat tendon adaptation to jumping exercise and anabolic steroids both isolated or in conjunct. The aim of the present work is to monitor alterations of the tendon extracellular matrix in response to these stimuli, by using SHG (for the determination of collagen orientation) and autofluorescence (elastin), trying to establish a connection between the organization of these elements and biomechanical properties of the tendons and the expression of MMP-s (Marqueti et al. Eur J Physiol, accepted). Besides, the high resolution attained with SHG will be used to determine important aspect of collagen fibrils and fiber organization such as fibril diameter, sectional area, alignement (Vidal and Carvalho, Matrix Biol. 10: 48, 1991), which will be employed for determining fiber reinforcement and its variation in the different experimental conditions.