title: ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Validation of a Novel Rodent Model to Test Anti-scarring Therapeutics.
abstract: Scar contracture is a debilitating disease that affects many people worldwide. There are currently no effective preventative medi- cal treatments. A pivotal step to attaining the goal of developing a treatment is the testing of anti-scarring agents in preclinical hierarchi- cal animal models of human scarring.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 2-cm x 2-cm, full- thickness, excisional wound was created in the rats' mid-scapular area. Three experiments were performed. The first experiment determined the optimal dressing in wound contraction. The second experiment de- veloped upon the results of the first experiment, and determined how anatomic site of osmotic pump implantation affected wound healing. The third experiment determined how the size of osmotic pump affect- ed wound healing. Wound healing parameters including rate of wound contraction, systemic and local toxicity, proliferation, collagen archi- tecture, and collagen production were assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the present study showed that covering the wound with TegadermTM (3M Health Care, St. Paul, MN) alone had the most linear wound con- traction rate with the smallest standard error of the mean. Implanta- tion of all osmotic pump sizes, when implanted intraperitoneally, was tolerated and did not interfere with wound healing. In contrast, sub- cutaneous implanted pumps caused significant discomfort in the rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Implantation of an osmotic pump intraperitoneal in the rat excisional wound model, where the wound is covered with Tegaderm, provides for a reproducible, accurate, preclinical animal model to study anti-scar contracture treatments. ﻿.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kokosis
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Jennifer E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.affiliation: Department of Burn Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China; Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Burns and Reconstructive Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China; Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Licheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Maria Angelica
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Selim
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham; Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC; E-mail: howard.levinson@duke.edu.
authors.forename: Howard
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Levinson