title: Comparative study of the integration and viability of autonomised and nonautonomised autologous fat tissue grafts--experimental model in rabbits.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The free transplant of fatty tissue has gone through several phases of interest over the last 100 years of medical history, having undergone cycles of use and disuse. In the present study we aimed to create, through a delaying process, an improvement in the integration and lower resorption rates of autologous fat grafts. Similar research has not been found in the literature, and this was the motivating factor for the present study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-three New Zealand male rabbits were used. The study consisted of two different modalities of autologous fatty tissue transplants [autonomised graft (A) vs nonautonomised grafts (NA)]. In order to characterise the histological differences that could contribute to the different macroscopic aspects in the samples of the autonomised and nonautonomised groups, three anatomic-pathological criteria were considered: steatonecrosis, viable adipocytes, and fibrous proliferation. For this analysis, the 'point-counting' technique proposed by Gundersen et al. was used, with a reticulum of 100 points and 50 lines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistically significant differences were found between the autonomised (A) and nonautonomised (NA) groups in both the macroscopic and microscopic aspects after the 6 month study period (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that autonomisation of the fatty tissue and its transfer as an autologous implant, in rabbits, is capable of promoting lower rates of resorption and greater integration of the transplanted tissue, characterised by a greater number of viable adipocytes, lower rates of fibrosis and steatonecrosis in comparison with the nonautonomised graft.
authors: Plastic Surgery Discipline of the Surgery Department, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Santa Casa de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. murifraga@ig.com.br
authors: Murillo Francisco Pires
authors: MF
authors: Fraga
authors: Américo
authors: A
authors: Helene
authors: Fernando
authors: F
authors: Nakamura
authors: Rute Fachini
authors: RF
authors: Lellis
authors: William
authors: W
authors: Kikuchi
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Esteban
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D000818:Animals; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005218:Fat Necrosis; D005355:Fibrosis; D006085:Graft Survival; D008297:Male; D011817:Rabbits; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous