title: A study of functional viability and metabolic degeneration of human skin stored at 4 degrees C.
abstract: We sought to ascertain whether an in vitro assay could be as reliable as an in vivo assay in determining the viability of human skin stored at 4 degrees C. Allografts from six human donors were stored in RPMI 1640 tissue culture medium at 4 degrees C. At fixed intervals during the storage period, all skin specimens were tested concurrently by two different viability assays: (1) transplantation onto surgically created defects on nude mice, and (2) intracellular enzyme activity with use of a 4-hour semiquantitative micromethod system activity (API ZYM; Biomerieux Vitek Inc., Hazelwood, Mo.). Human graft survival on the nude mice was 100% for the first 15 days of storage, and then declined to 50% on storage day 30. The API ZYM assay showed a comparable progressive decrease in enzyme activity over skin storage time. The API ZYM assay is a simple, rapid system that produces reproducible results and is cost-effective when compared to the biologic model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Rosenquist
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: G P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Kealey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002102:Cadaver; D015925:Cryopreservation; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006085:Graft Survival; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D012044:Regression Analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards*; D013048:Specimen Handling; D013997:Time Factors