title: Effects of hyperbaric oxygen preservation on rat limb replantation: a preliminary report.
abstract: The effect of hyperbaric oxygen, administered during storage, on the survival of replanted limbs was evaluated in rats. The right hindlimbs of male Sprague-Dawley rats were severed and were replanted by microvascular anastomoses after storage in either room air or hyperbaric oxygen (100% oxygen at 2.9 atm absolute) at 23 degrees C for 5 hours. The administration of hyperbaric oxygen during storage improved limb survival from 50% in the room-air, control rats to 100% (p less than 0.05). The gastrocnemius muscle of limbs treated with hyperbaric oxygen demonstrated a higher level of energy reserves (creatine phosphate, adenosine triphosphate, glycogen, and glucose) than the same muscle in room-air, control rats. The mechanisms of the beneficial effect of hyperbaric oxygen on limb survival appears to be related to preservation of high-energy phosphates and glycogen.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Im
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hoopes
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000601:surgery*; D006931:Hyperbaric Oxygenation; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012092:Replantation; D014021:Tissue Preservation / Q000379:methods*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology