title: A full skin defect model to evaluate vascularization of biomaterials in vivo.
abstract: Insufficient vascularization is considered to be one of the main factors limiting the clinical success of tissue-engineered constructs. In order to evaluate new strategies that aim at improving vascularization, reliable methods are required to make the in-growth of new blood vessels into bio-artificial scaffolds visible and quantify the results. Over the past couple of years, our group has introduced a full skin defect model that enables the direct visualization of blood vessels by transillumination and provides the possibility of quantification through digital segmentation. In this model, one surgically creates full skin defects in the back of mice and replaces them with the material tested. Molecules or cells of interest can also be incorporated in such materials to study their potential effect. After an observation time of one's own choice, materials are explanted for evaluation. Bilateral wounds provide the possibility of making internal comparisons that minimize artifacts among individuals as well as of decreasing the number of animals needed for the study. In comparison to other approaches, our method offers a simple, reliable and cost effective analysis. We have implemented this model as a routine tool to perform high-resolution screening when testing vascularization of different biomaterials and bio-activation approaches.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Hospital rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München.
authors.forename: Thilo L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Schenck
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Hospital rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München.
authors.forename: Myra N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Chávez
authors.affiliation: Institute for Signal Processing, University of Lübeck.
authors.forename: Alexandru P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Condurache
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Hospital rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München.
authors.forename: Ursula
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hopfner
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Hospital Zürich.
authors.forename: Farid
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rezaeian
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Hospital rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München.
authors.forename: Hans-Günther
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Machens
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Hospital rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München; FONDAP Center for Genome Regulation, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile; tomasega@gmail.com.
authors.forename: José T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Egaña
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051379:Mice; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic / Q000502:physiology*; D012867:Skin / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000293:injuries; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000628:therapy