Abstract
Impaired wound healing in humans under psychological stress and the positive effects
of antidepressant drugs on wound healing were also shown in the literature. However,
there are currently no studies regarding the effects of antidepressant drugs on tendon
healing. The aim of this study was to compare tendon healing under normal conditions
versus social stress. We also aimed to perform a histological and biomechanical analysis
of the effects of the antidepressant drug fluoxetine on tendon healing. Sixty Sprague
Dawley rats were divided into six groups. A social stress regimen was used to stress
the rats. The use of fluoxetine in the social stress group yielded significantly better
biomechanical results and the collagen organizations of the fluoxetine group were
more similar to the normal tendon collagen organization. Fluoxetine seems to inhibit
the negative effects of stress on tendon healing and seems to improve tendon healing.
Levels of Evidence: Level 5
Keywords
Social stress - Fluoxetine - Tendon healing - Social stress and tendon healing - SSRI
and tendon healing