title: Ischemic rabbit ear model created by minimally invasive surgery.
abstract: A rabbit ear ischemic model was created using a minimally invasive surgical technique. On one ear, three small skin incisions were made on the vascular pedicles about 1 cm from the base of the ear. The central and cranial arteries were ligated and divided along with their accompanying nerves. A circumferential subcutaneous tunnel was made through the incisions to cut subcutaneous tissues, muscles, nerves, and small vessels. The other ear was used as a normal control. Wounds were made on the ventral side of the ear. Twenty-two rabbits (14 young adults, four aged, and four diabetic) were used. In the 26 pairs of wounds in young adult rabbits, the mean healing time on the ischemic ear was 20.5+/-3.4 days vs. 14.9+/-1.6 days on the normal ear (mean+/-SD) when normal saline was used as a dressing. Tissue high-energy phosphate contents were higher in the normal ear than in the ischemic ear. The skin temperature on the ischemic ear was 1-7 degrees C lower than that on the normal ear. Wound-healing times were longer in the aged and diabetic rabbits, but no complications occurred in these rabbits. The model created by minimally invasive procedure results in little skin disruption, a longer ischemic time, and a higher success rate as compared with many other models. It can be used in normal animals as well as aged animals, and for the first time, was used successfully in diabetic animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of Louisville, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, USA. Sufanc@netscape.net
authors.forename: Sufan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chien
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001784:Blood Gas Analysis; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004431:Ear, External / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007511:Ischemia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures; D023421:Models, Animal; D011817:Rabbits; D012881:Skin Temperature; D013997:Time Factors; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*