M. Frey et al., SCUTULOAURICULARIS MUSCLE OF THE RABBIT - A NEW MODEL FOR FREE FUNCTIONAL MUSCLE TRANSPLANTATION IN THE MIMIC SYSTEM, Microsurgery, 17(5), 1996, pp. 254-258
There is little information on the specific process of free, functiona
l muscle transplantation to the face trying to restore mimic function.
Up to now one of the main reasons was the impossibility of functional
assessment of mimic muscles as well as their transplanted substitutes
, The scutuloauricularis muscle provides an ideal model for quantitati
ve assessment of muscle function because of its circumscript tendinous
insertion and is suitable for microsurgical transplantation. In a ser
ies of 26 adult, female New Zealand rabbits the anatomical and microsu
rgical details were studied, The scutuloauricularis muscle weighs 1.01
8 +/- 0.106 g, it is supplied by the auricularis rostralis artery (dia
meter 0.4 +/- 0.1 mm) and the auricularis rostralis vein (diameter 1.3
+/- 0.1 mm) and one oligofascicular (2-3 fascicles) branch of the fac
ial nerve, During isometric contraction under supramaximal electrostim
ulation the maximal tetanic tension was 2.995 +/- 0.928 N. Histomorpho
metric studies in ATP-ase stained cross-sections showed 40.5 +/- 4.6%
type I fibres, 32.3 +/- 5.2% type IIA fibres, and 27.2 +/- 7.1% type I
IB fibres. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.