Healing of abdominal incisions in sea lamprey larvae: a comparison of three wound-closure techniques

Sea lamprey larvae Petromyzon marinus were incised full thickness through t heir abdominal wall and the wounds closed with one of three closure techniq ues: cyanoacrylate adhesive (glue), a simple interrupted (SI) suture patter n, and an interrupted horizontal mattress (HM) pattern. Postoperative morta lity was 13% for the glued animals and 7% for both sutured groups. No signi ficant differences were found between groups with respect to occurrence of abdominal eviscerations, adhesions, granulation tissue or intact epithelium . The HM pattern reduced significantly the occurrence of abdominal hernia f ormation compared to the glued animals. Gross inflammation was found to dec rease from 100% at day five to 20% at 2 weeks in both suture groups, but de creased only from 80 to 60% for glued animals through the course of the stu dy. Some sutures remained intact in the HM group at 2 weeks, yet no sutures remained in the SI group. No glue was present on any of the wounds treated with tissue adhesive at any collection period. Tissue apposition was achie ved best with the HM pattern and this may improve the animal's chance for n ormal, long-term survival. (C) 1999 The Fisheries Society of the British Is les.