For years, bioengineers and orthopaedic surgeons have applied the principles of mechanics to gain valuable information about the complex function of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). The results of these investigations have provided scientific data for surgeons to improve methods of ACL reconstruction and postoperative rehabilitation. This review paper will present specific examples of how ...

With the participation of women in athletics growing rapidly over the last two decades, a disturbing gender-specific pre-disposition has emerged regarding anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries of the knee. Female athletes have a two- to eightfold higher incidence of ACL injury than their male counterparts. It is estimated that 38,000 women sustain ACL tears per year. The majority of ACL inj...

Passive collagenous structures such as rabbit medial collateral ligament exhibit fatigue behavior under cyclic loading: the larger the magnitude of repetitive loading, the fewer the number of loading cycles until failure [1]. A knowledge gap exists as to whether the human ACL might also exhibit fatigue behavior under cyclic loading. If so, this would help explain why an ACL rupture can occur du...

The present study compares fibroblasts extracted from intact and ruptured human anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL) for creation of a tissue engineered ACL-construct, made of porcine small intestinal submucosal extracellular matrix (SIS-ECM) seeded with these ACL cells. The comparison is based on histological, immunohistochemical and RT-PCR analyses. Differences were observed between cells in a r...

Anatomic study related to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery has been developed in accordance with the progress of imaging technology. Advances in imaging techniques, especially the move from two-dimensional (2D) to three-dimensional (3D) image analysis, substantially contribute to anatomic understanding and its application to advanced ACL reconstruction surgery. This p...

Females demonstrated 2-9 times higher ACL injury rate, narrow notch width and higher joint laxity in multi-planar directions [1,2]. One of potential ACL injury mechanisms is ACL impingement against the lateral wall of the femoral intercondylar notch [3], expressed as elongated and deformed ACL geometry [3] and contact area and contact pressure between the ACL and the intercondylar notch [4]. Ho...

Direct anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair has been described with different suture techniques after acute ACL injury, but these procedures showed high failure rates. Recent studies, however, led to a better understanding of the biology of primary ACL healing. This article describes a novel technique combining the "healing response technique" with primary anatomic double-bundle ACL reinsert...

Introduction: Until the mechanics of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries and contributing factors are better elucidated, effective preventive strategies will continue to elude us. Current dogma is that ACL injury results from a single loading cycle, but recent evidence supports tissue fatigue as a possible failure mechanism [1]. In a cadaveric pivot landing model, ACL rupture was found to...

ATP citrate lyase (ACL) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate using citrate, CoA, and ATP as substrates and Mg(2+) as a necessary cofactor. The ACL-dependent synthesis of acetyl-CoA is thought to be an essential step for the de novo synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol. For this reason, inhibition of ACL has been pursued as a strategy to treat dys...

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a major ligament that helps maintain the stability of the knee joint. Injury to the ACL can be treated by replacing the torn ligament. This study determined the optimal flexor tendon length in the bone tunnel in ACL reconstruction.Autologous ACL reconstruction was performed using a flexor tendon in 54 male beagles, with the graft length in the bone tunnel...