Figure 5.

Collagen synthesis increased over the period of time and therefore the amount of cellular connective tissue. Looking at the connective tissue bridging of the anastomosed region over the time, an increased level of connective tissue in the IGF-I-treated group became obvious, even though there was no significant difference measurable at day one and three but at day 7. This effect due to locally applied IGF-I might explain the increased mechanical stability at day three after surgery, since the increase of connective tissue was significantly higher in the growth factor treated group in between day one and three, but was not significant in the control groups.