Controlled partial skin thickness burns: an animal model for studies of burnwound progression

A practicable, reliable and reproducible model for infliction of partial skin thickness burn lesions in rabbits is presented. The model is dedicated to experimental studies investigating the influence of drugs on burn wounds. A round aluminium stamp with a contact area of 4 cm2, weight 85 g, was heated up to 80 degrees C and applied for 14 s without additional pressure on the depilated dorsal skin of rabbits. This procedure produced the desired partial skin thickness burn injury. The depth of the burn lesions was investigated by HE-stained paraffin sections. The border of the necrotic zone was found in the central third of the dermis in 80% of cases, and in the central two quarters in 100%. These results are achieved when the rabbit's hair at the site of infliction is in the anagen phase of the hair growth cycle. For obtaining reproducible results we recommend using rabbits of the same strain and weight, anagen hair growth phase, the described procedure of infliction, an identical stamp and the specified temperature and infliction time.