Figure 4.

Effects of injury on Achilles tendon structural properties.(A–B) Within 24 hours of complete Achilles tendon transection, fibril diameter distributions show a greater number of large and small diameter fibrils, indicating a structural change in response to injury. (C) In the longer term, transverse SEM data indicates that the initial disorganization observed gradually leads to more longitudinally aligned collagen fibrils with healing.

Panels A–B: Image reproduced with permission from Maeda et al. (2011)19. Panel C: Image reproduced with permission from Sasaki et al. (2012)65.