Figure 2.

(a) (Top) (reproduced with permission from John Wiley and Sons,⁷ modified): a schematic illustration of the live allograft reconstruction of murine distal FDL tendon. A 3-mm gap defect in distal FDL tendon in the hind foot of wild-type mouse was created and replaced surgically by a 3-mm FDL tendon allograft from Rosa26/+ mouse using 9-0 ETHILON™ suture with modified Kessler technique. The tendon is transected at the proximal musculotendinous junction (arrow) to temporarily immobilize the flexion mechanism to protect against the disruption of the tendon graft and to stimulate adhesions. (b) (Bottom): a 3-mm gap in the hind foot of wild-type mouse replaced surgically by a 3-mm live allograft (between arrows) from Rosa26/+ mouse. (c) An overview of experimental plan is shown.

FDL: flexor digitorum longus.