Mechanoreceptors of the ligaments and tendons around the knee

Abstract

Proprioceptive inputs from the joints and limbs arise from mechanoreceptors in the muscles, ligaments and tendons. The knee joint has a wide range of movements, and proper neuroanatomical organization is critical for knee stability. Four ligaments (the anterior (ACL) and posterior (PCL) cruciate ligaments and the medial (MCL) and lateral (LCL) collateral ligaments) and four tendons (the semitendinosus (STT), gracilis (GT), popliteal (PoT), and patellar (PaT) tendons) from eight fresh frozen cadavers were harvested. Each harvested tissue was divided into its bone insertion side and its tendinous part for immunohistochemical examination using S100 staining. Freeman-Wyke's classification was used to identify the mechanoreceptors. The mechanoreceptors were usually located close to the bone insertion. Free nerve endings followed by Ruffini endings were the most common mechanoreceptors overall. No Pacini corpuscles were observed; free nerve endings and Golgi-like endings were most frequent in the PCL (PCL-PaT: P = 0.0.1, PCL-STT: P = 0.00), and Ruffini endings in the popliteal tendon (PoT-PaT: P = 0.00, Pot-STT: P = 0.00, PoT-LCL: P = 0.00, PoT-GT: P = 0.00, PoT-ACL: P = 0.09). The cruciate ligaments had more mechanoreceptors than the medial structures (MS) or the patellar tendon (CR-Pat: P = 0.000, CR-MS: P = 0.01). The differences in mechanoreceptor distributions between the ligaments and tendons could reflect the different roles of these structures in the dynamic coordination of knee motion. Clin. Anat. 29:789-795, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Keywords: anterior cruciate ligament; collateral ligaments; immunohistochemistry; knee Joint; mechanoreceptors; nerve endings; popliteus tendon; posterior cruciate ligament; proprioception.