A new vascularized skin transplant model in rats

The aim of this work was to develop a vascularized skin transplantation mod el in the rat to allow comparison of the immunological events with those of classic free skin grafts and vascularized organ grafts. Seventy-nine synge neic transplants were performed using inbred Wistar and PVG rats to develop the model. Epigastric skin flaps were taken with a vascular pedicle of com mon femoral artery and vein and implanted on the back of the neck. The graf t vessels were anastomosed end-to-end and end-to-side to the recipient comm on carotid artery and external jugular vein with interrupted 10-0 nylon sut ures under an operating microscope. A high success rate (11 of 11) was achi eved in the final method developed, with light microscopy confirming normal skin structure in the flaps following transplantation. The advantages of t he model include comparable skin size to that commonly used for nonvascular ized skin grafts, while the physiology in terms of blood supply is similar to that of vascularized organ grafts; the grafts are visible with free acce ss for biopsy; and the size of the graft can easily be varied to allow stud ies concerning antigen load. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.