Adaptive and Innate Immune Cell Responses in Tendons and Lymph Nodes After Tendon Injury and Repair
Andrew C. Noah, j appl physiol. 16 JAN 2020
Tendon injuries are a common clinical condition with limited treatment options. The cellular components of the innate system, such as neutrophils and macrophages, have been studied in tendon injuries. However the adaptive immune system, comprised of specialized lymphocytes, plays an important role in orchestrating the healing of numerous tissues but less is known about these cells in tendon healing.
To gain a greater understanding of the biological processes that regulate tendon healing, we determined how the cellular components of the adaptive and innate immune system respond to a tendon injury using two-month old male mice.
We observed that lymphatic vasculature is present in the epitenon and superficial regions of Achilles tendons, and that the lymphatics drain into the popliteal lymph node. We then created an acute Achilles tenotomy followed by repair, and collected tendons and popliteal lymph nodes one, two, and four weeks after injury.
Tendon injury resulted in a robust adaptive immune cell response that followed an initial innate immune cell response in tendons and lymph nodes. Monocytes, neutrophils, and macrophages initially accumulated at one week after injury in tendons, while dendritic cells and CD4+ T cells peaked at two weeks after injury. B cells and CD8+ T cells progressively increased over time. In parallel, immune cells of the popliteal lymph node demonstrated a similarly coordinated response to the injury.
These results suggest that there is an adaptive immune response to tendon injury and adaptive immune cells may play a role in regulating tendon healing.