title: Experimental study of fat grafting under negative pressure for wounds with exposed bone.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The combination of fat grafting and negative pressure (VAC) therapy represents a synergistic interaction of all essential components for wound healing. The aim of this experimental study was to determine whether it could promote healing of wounds with exposed bone.
  
  
  METHODS
  Full-thickness wounds with denuded bone in Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with either polyurethane foam dressing, fat grafting alone, polyurethane foam dressing with VAC, or polyurethane foam dressing with VAC combined with a single, or two administrations of fat graft. Wound healing kinetics, tissue growth, cell proliferation (Ki-67) and angiogenesis (platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule 1 and α-smooth muscle actin) were investigated. Messenger RNA levels related to angiogenesis (vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF)), profibrosis (platelet-derived growth factor A and transforming growth factor β), adipocyte expression (fatty acid-binding protein (FABP) 4 and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor γ), and extracellular matrix remodelling (collagen I) were measured in wound tissues.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Wounds treated by VAC combined with fat grafting were characterized by cell proliferation, neoangiogenesis and maturation of functional blood vessels; they showed accelerated granulation tissue growth over the denuded bone compared with VAC- or foam dressing-treated wounds. Fat grafting alone over denuded bone resulted in complete necrosis. Expression of angiogenesis markers (VEGF and b-FGF) and adipocyte expression factors (FABP-4) was upregulated in wounds treated with VAC combined with fat grafting.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fat grafting with VAC therapy may represent a simple but effective clinical solution for a number of complex tissue defects, and warrants testing in clinical models.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The combination of fat grafting and vacuum therapy represents a synergistic interaction of regenerative cells, hospitable wound matrix and stimulating micromechanical forces. It could accelerate complex wound healing through cell proliferation, neoangiogenesis and maturation of functional blood vessels. The efficacy of a multimodal wound healing approach is established in this experimental model; it could easily be translated into clinical trials of treatment for difficult wounds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kao
authors.affiliation: Kidney Research Centre, Department of Nephrology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: H-H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W-Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Chuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology and Head Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: K-P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.|Department of Reparative and Reconstructive Surgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Burn Institute of Yunnan Province, Kunming, China.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic Surgery, Lahey Hospital and Medical Center, Burlington, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation*; D000818:Animals; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000503:physiopathology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005355:Fibrosis; D006097:Granulation Tissue / Q000502:physiology; D023421:Models, Animal; D009336:Necrosis; D054843:Negative-Pressure Wound Therapy; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012535:Scalp / Q000293:injuries; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology*