BPC-157 and TB-500 in rat tendon repair

Study record

Population

32 healthy male Sprague-Dawley rats, 12 weeks old, approximately 330 g; eight per group. Four tendons per group underwent biomechanical testing and four underwent histological analyses. Endpoint sample size is four, not eight.

Read source · Full-text reportPatients and Methods — allocation; Figure 1

Formulation

Peptide Sciences products BPC-157 223-018-PS and TB-500 27-155-PS. Exact TB-500 sequence, analytical purity and vehicle composition are not specified in the reviewed report; do not assume equivalence to full-length thymosin-beta-4 or other TB-500 products.

Inspect extraction gap · Full-text reportPatients and Methods — daily administration and product identifiers

Route

Intraperitoneal injection in rats; not a human subcutaneous regimen.

Read source · Full-text reportPatients and Methods — treatment groups

Dose & frequency

BPC-157 10 micrograms/kg/day, TB-500 60 micrograms/kg/day, or both at those doses, once daily beginning on postoperative day 1. Control received vehicle. These are experimental animal exposures; no human or KLOW regimen is established.

Read source · Full-text reportPatients and Methods — treatment groups and dose rationale

Study design

Randomized four-arm Achilles transection and surgical repair experiment. Histology and biomechanical assessors were blinded; surgeons and treatment administrators were not. No prospective sample-size calculation. All animals received surgical care, antibiotic prophylaxis and analgesia.

Read source · Full-text reportPatients and Methods — randomization, blinding, Surgery; Discussion — limitations

Duration

Methods and Figure 1 specify 30 postoperative days of treatment and sacrifice on day 30; the abstract describes four weeks. One assessment time point, with no later recovery follow-up.

Read source · Full-text reportPatients and Methods; Figure 1; Abstract

Reported findings

Maximum-load medians: control 26.91 N, BPC-157 37.16 N, TB-500 37.41 N, combination 34.54 N (four tendons/group). Only TB-500 versus control was significant after adjustment (p=0.0406); BPC-157 versus control was not (p=0.389). Combination showed no added benefit. Total Movin scores improved versus control for TB-500 and combination, but not BPC-157; this is not evidence that the combination outperformed either agent.

Read source · Full-text reportResults — Biomechanical analysis; Figure 2; Histological evaluations

Adverse events

No deaths, postoperative infections, wound complications, reruptures or protocol-related exclusions were reported over 30 days. These observations do not establish systemic toxicity or human combination safety.

Read source · Full-text reportPatients and Methods — animal disposition

Monitoring

Postoperative individual observation for 24 hours, with analgesia as needed; terminal tendon strength and histological measurements. No functional recovery assessment or molecular pathway analysis was performed.

Read source · Full-text reportSurgical procedure; Discussion — limitations