Histological Study of Fresh Versus Frozen Semitendinous Muscle Tendon Allografts

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to histologically analyze allografts from cadaveric semitendinous muscle after cryopreservation at -80°C in comparison to a control group kept at only -4°C to test the hypothesis that the histological characteristics of the tissue are maintained when the tendons are kept at lower temperatures. METHODS: In a tissue bank, 10 semitendinous tendons from 10 cadavers were frozen at -80ºC as a storage method for tissue preservation. They were kept frozen for 40 days, and then a histological study was carried out. Another 10 tendon samples were analyzed while still "fresh". RESULTS: There was no histological difference between the fresh and frozen samples in relation to seven variables. CONCLUSIONS: Semitendinous muscle tendon allografts can be submitted to cryopreservation at -80ºC without suffering histological modifications