Figure 1.

Representative histologic sections of normal and repaired tendons 1, 3, and 9 days post-operatively. The sections were stained with H&E and viewed under bright field for cell identification. An overview of a representative section from each timepoint is shown to the left (4x objective, 2 mm scale bar). Colored squares indicate the regions of interest (repair surface, tendon surface, repair center, tendon substance) on the overview images and corresponding high magnification images (20x objective, 200 μm scale bar) are shown to the right with corresponding border colors. Inflammatory cells are seen infiltrating the repair site via the tendon surface on day 1 (black arrows). The Inflammatory response decreases over time and fibroblasts invaginate and fill the repair by day 9. New blood vessel formation on the tendon surface is evident on day 9.