Microsurgical flaps have been widely used in clinical reconstructive surger
y. Although these procedures have achieved great clinical success, utilizat
ion of microsurgical flap techniques have also led to a number of basic que
stions that researchers must now attempt to answer. The rat has been the so
urce of many flap models in these investigations. This article provides a c
ondensed description of the procedures, anatomic data, and research applica
tions for skin, muscle, myocutaneous, bone, osteomuscular, and osteomyocuta
neous microsurgical flap models in the rat.