An extracorporeal warm perfusion device for basic research: possibility of avoiding some animal experiments

An advantage of development of an extracorporeal warm perfusion device is that some animal experiments can be saved because investigations can be carried out on isolated blocks of body tissue which would otherwise entail an animal experiment. It is possible that several teams work with different flaps of one animal. The liquid medium for perfusion is an aqueous solution which combines a culture medium for keratinocytes, neonatal calf serum, L-glutamine, antibiotics, and an antimycotic. Pedicled flaps from animals killed in a slaughterhouse can also be used. The oxygenation of the nutritive medium is achieved through an aqueous phase gas exchange. This method is stable and easily reproducible. Perfused porcine flaps have been reimplanted for vital assessment.