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Updated: Jul 15, 2026
Ischemic Tissue Injury in the Dorsal Skinfold Chamber of the Mouse: A Skin Flap Model to Investigate Acute Persistent Ischemia
Published on: November 17, 2014
[Effects of mouse NIH3T3 cells transfected with VEGF gene on neovascularization of ischemic flaps]
Yan Zheng1, Cheng-gang Yi, Li-jie He
1Department of Plastic Surgery, Xijing Hospital, the Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China.
Objective:
To investigate the feasibility of applying NIH3T3 cells transfected by VEGF gene to the treatment of ischemic random skin flaps.
Methods:
Plasmid PcDNA3.1(-)/VEGF(165) containing VEGF gene was transduced into the mouse NIH3T3 cells by liposome. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of VEGF protein of mouse NIH/3T3 cells in vitro. The NIH3T3 cells were stained with CM-DiI before the transplantation. Thirty mice were randomized into 3 groups: Groups A, B and C, and were respectively injected with NIH/3T3 cells transfected with PcDNA3.1(-)/VEGF(165) plasmid, NIH/3T3 cells and medium only. On the 4th day after the injection, random dorsal skin flaps with an area of 4.0 cm x 1.5 cm were established. The survival, neovascularization and blood flow recovery of the flaps were detected.
Results:
VEGF-transduced NIH3T3 cells expressed VEGF highly in vitro and in vivo. The results showed that flap survival rate in group A (95.1% +/- 3.1%) was significantly higher than those in group B (37.4% +/- 6.3%) and group C (26.2% +/- 5.6%). The capillary density and the blood perfusion of the flaps in group A were significantly higher than those in other two groups.
Conclusions:
VEGF-transfected NIH3T3 cells can improve ischemic flap neovascularization and extend survival areas.
