Improved vitality of experimental random dorsal skin flaps in rats treated with enriched cell culture medium

A defined, serum-free cell culture medium supplemented with nonsteroidal anabolic hormones, insulin, thyroxin, and growth hormone was found to accelerate wound healing by stimulating vascularized granulation tissue formation, epithelialization, and angiogenesis. The aim of this work was to study the effect of cell culture medium on the survival rate of cephalically based random dorsal skin flaps in an animal model. A total of 77 Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized into five treatment groups: pharmacologic delay with cell culture medium, flap enhancement with cell culture medium, surgical delay, biological delay with saline, and control. Statistically significant differences in distal flap necrosis were found among all groups (p<0.003). The rats treated with cell culture medium before flap elevation showed a significant increase in flap viability: a survival rate of 83 percent, compared with the control group, which demonstrated a survival rate of only 58 percent (p<0.0001). The surgical delay and the groups treated with cell culture medium yielded similar results with no significant difference between them. This study indicates that preoperative injection of cell culture medium may play a role in decreasing skin flap necrosis.