TABLE 4.
Summary of studies regarding promoting vascularization in the healing of avascular meniscal lesions.
| Model | Duration | Treatment | Outcome | Reference |
| Meniscal tear without intervention | ||||
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| Rabbit | 1–10 weeks | Vascular meniscal tear (n = 20) Avascular meniscal tear (n = 20) No surgery (n = 5) | Progressive vascularization and complete healing; increased endogenous VEGF No vascularization or healing; highest endogenous VEGF NA | Becker et al., 2004 |
| Rabbit | 1–20 weeks | Avascular meniscal tear (n = 36) No surgery (n = 6) | No evidence of healing, VEGF expression peaked at 14 days NA | Ruiz Ibán et al., 2014 |
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| Meniscal tear with VEGF supplementation | ||||
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| Sheep | 6 weeks | VEGF + coated suture (n = 6) coated suture (n = 6) | 6/6 no healing 3/6 partial healing; 3/6 complete healing | Petersen et al., 2005 |
| Sheep | 8 weeks | VEGF + coated suture (n = 6) Coated suture (n = 6) Uncoated suture (n = 6) | 1/6 partial healing; 5/6 no healing 1/6 complete healing; 1/6 partial healing; 4/6 no healing 3/6 partial healing; 3/6 no healing | Kopf et al., 2010 |
| Sheep | 8 weeks | Suture + trephination (n = 4) MatrigelTM (n = 4) VEGF (n = 4) Cultured chondrocytes (n = 4) Hyaluronic acid (n = 4) BMP-7 (n = 4) | No healing No healing No healing Fibrous tissue healing No healing Fibrous tissue healing | Forriol et al., 2015 |
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| Meniscal tear with CTGF supplementation | ||||
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| Rabbit | 10 weeks | CTGF + fibrin glue | complete healing with capillaries | He et al., 2011 |
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| Meniscal tear with other bioactive factors supplementation | ||||
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| Meniscal explant | 4 weeks | HGF + PDGF | Meniscal defect was repaired with organized collagen | Bhargava et al., 2005 |
| Meniscal explant | 4 weeks | endothelin-1 | superior integrative healing of meniscal implants | Yuan et al., 2015 |
BMP-7, bone morphogenic protein-7; NA, not applicable.