The effects of deferoxamine on the survival of free flaps using the adult male rat as a model - biomed 2009.
A free flap is defined as tissue that is moved to a new location along with its own inherent blood supply. The ability to transfer tissue based on microvascular anastomoses has created a revolution in reconstructive surgery. However, secondary ischemia is a serious problem for the survival of a free flap after transfer. It is believed that free radicals limit flap survival. In order to improve the flap's tolerance to secondary ischemia, deferoxamine, a free radical scavenger was administered following three hours of secondary ischemia in Sprague Dawley rats. Epigastric island flap was isolated and raised in the right groin area. Primary ischemia was induced for one hour, and 24 hours later a secondary ischemia by venous occlusion was performed. The flaps were clinically evaluated at five days, and tissues were collected after fourteen days. The flaps were stained with hematoxylin and eosin to characterize the cells present within the tissue. Additional immunostaining for the presence of T-cells, fibrosis, and inflammatory cells were also evaluated. The findings indicated that administration ofdeferoxamine showed a trend in the both the reduction of CD 40 which indicates fibrosis and CD 28 which indicates lack of flap rejection compared with the saline control. The levels of inflammatory cells were not different between the two groups. Overall, the findings of this study were intriguing and suggest that additional experiments on length of secondary ischemia need to be performed to further characterize the importance of reactive oxygen species on flap survival.
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA.
Nicholas
N
Longstreet
Sheila
S
Lindley
Hamed
H
Benghuzzi
Michelle
M
Tucci
Feng
F
Zhang