Background: Hypoxia, which is associated with chronic tendinopathy, has recently been shown to decrease the mechanosensitivity of some cells.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of hypoxia on the formation of elongated primary cilia (a mechanosensing organelle of tendon cells) in vitro and to determine the effect of hypoxia on cell-mediated contraction of stress-deprived rat tail tendon fascicles (RTTfs).
Methods: Tendon cells isolated from RTTfs were cultured under normoxic (21% O2) or hypoxic (1% O2) conditions for 24 hours. The cells were then stained for tubulin and the number of cells with elongated cilia counted. RTTfs from 1-month-old
male Sprague-Dawley rats were also cultured under hypoxic and normoxic conditions for three days and tendon length measured daily.
Results: A significant (p=0.002) decrease in the percent of elongated cilia was found in cells maintained in hypoxic conditions (54.1%±12.2) when compared in normoxic conditions (71.7%±6.32). RTTfs in hypoxia showed a significant decrease in the amount of contraction compared to RTTfs in normoxia after two (p=0.007) and three (p=0.001) days.
Conclusion: The decreased incidence of elongated primary cilia in a hypoxic environment, as well as the decreased mechanoresponsiveness of tendon cells under these conditions may relate to the inability of some cases of chronic tendinopathy to
respond to strain-based rehabilitation modalities (i.e. eccentric loading).