Cold storage of rat skeletal muscle free flaps and pre-ischemic perfusion with modified UW solution
✍ Scribed by Milind Wagh; Glykeria Pantazi; Rosalind Romeo; John V. Hurley; Wayne A. Morrison; Kenneth R. Knight
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2000
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 226 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0738-1085
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✦ Synopsis
We used the rat medial gastrocnemius free flap, based on a pedicle of the femoral artery and vein, in order to test the tolerance of skeletal muscle to cold ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury, and to determine whether tolerance can be enhanced by pre-ischemic perfusion with tissue/organ preservation solutions.
Muscle flaps (n = 6 per group) were subjected to variable periods of cold storage (0, 1, 2, 3, or 4 days) and 24-h normothermic reperfusion. Muscle viability, as determined by nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) histochemical staining of viable mitochondria and supported by histological examination, was 100%, 26%, 11%, 4%, and 1%, respectively. Using 24-h cold storage/24-h reperfusion as the experimental conditions, groups of muscle flaps (n = 5 per group) were perfused im-mediately before cold storage with either modified, colloidfree University of Wisconsin (UW) solution, a solution described by Kohout et al. (Br J Plast Surg 1995;48:132-144) or normal saline. Perfusion with modified UW solution or Kohout's solution increased survival to 33% (P < 0.05) and 28% (not statistically significant), respectively, compared with the 19% viability of separate groups of nonperfused or salineperfused controls. These findings indicate that cold-stored skeletal muscle is highly susceptible to cold IR injury and that the viability can be increased by prior perfusion with a tissue preservation solution such as modified UW solution.