Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. May 18, 2017; 8(5): 372-378
Published online May 18, 2017. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v8.i5.372
Light and electron microscopic study of the medial collateral ligament epiligament tissue in human knees
Georgi P Georgiev, Alexandar Iliev, Georgi Kotov, Plamen Kinov, Svetoslav Slavchev, Boycho Landzhov
Georgi P Georgiev, Plamen Kinov, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, University Hospital Queen Giovanna-ISUL, Medical University of Sofia, BG 1527 Sofia, Bulgaria
Alexandar Iliev, Georgi Kotov, Boycho Landzhov, Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Medical University of Sofia, BG 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria
Svetoslav Slavchev, University Hospital of Orthopaedics “Prof. B. Boychev”, Medical University of Sofia, BG 1614 Sofia, Bulgaria
Author contributions: Georgiev GP and Landzhov B performed the ultrastructural study and analysed the data from transmission electron microscopy and light microscopy; Iliev A, Kinov P and Slavchev S performed the histologic investigations; Kinov P, Slavchev S and Landzhov B helped in preparing the manuscript; Georgiev GP designed and coordinated the research; Georgiev GP, Iliev A and Kotov G wrote the paper; all authors approved the final version of the article to be published.
Institutional review board statement: The study was approved by the Medical University of Sofia Institutional Review Board.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: No animals were analysed during this study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Georgi P Georgiev, MD, PhD, Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, University Hospital Queen Giovanna-ISUL, Medical University of Sofia, 8 Bialo More St., BG 1527 Sofia, Bulgaria. georgievgp@yahoo.com
Telephone: +359-88-4493523
Received: December 21, 2016
Peer-review started: December 25, 2016
First decision: February 17, 2017
Revised: February 23, 2017
Accepted: March 12, 2017
Article in press: March 13, 2017
Published online: May 18, 2017
Processing time: 142 Days and 8.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: The epiligament of the medial collateral ligament of the human knee is an important enveloping supporting structure of the ligament proper containing fibroblasts, fibrocytes, adipocytes, mast cells, and neurovascural bundles in a network of collagen fibres that is not limited to the surface of the ligament but also pervades it, as the endoligament, thus providing the cellular elements and blood vessels that participate in the ligament’s nutrition and during the process of healing.