There is no current standard operating procedure for rabbit anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery that allows for comparison of load thresholds pre-injury and after reconstruction to evaluate if the native properties of the knee have been restored.

We would like to thank Dr. Sah for his mentorship and support throughout this project. As well as the members of the Cartilage Tissue Engineering Lab, specifically Alborz Jelvani for teaching and guiding us during the experiments. 

Working with the rabbit model may result in environmental, social, ethical, and health issues. Environmental issues include proper disposal of the rabbit and surgical equipment. Social and ethical issues may include the use of animals for scientific experiments and confidentiality of our work to maintain intellectual property. Health issues that may result from this project include injuries from working with surgical tools or bloodborne pathogens when working with the animals. To maintain safety of the lab and the team, appropriate protocols must be followed when working on the project.

Rabbit ACL reconstruction helps maintain stability and enables functional movements of the knee joint. It also reduces the cost of animal testing when rabbits are used in research. It also benefits future research on ACL injuries and secondary orthopedic diseases like post-traumatic osteoarthritis.