A new experimental delayed wound healing model in rabbits

Chronic wounds pose important problems in clinical practice and their treatment is difficult and costly. Here we describe a new delayed wound healing animal model. Fifteen male New Zealand rabbits were used in this study. A horizontal incision 4 cm in length was made on the dorsal part of the torso and pure skin flaps were raised in front of and behind this incision. This exposed the panniculus carnosus layer and it was resected. Skin flaps were returned to their places and sutured. After a 3 week period of healing third degree burn injury was inflicted using hot metal plates both on the healed flaps and at the same location on the opposite side. Scar samples were sent for histopathological examination after healing. The wounds on the panniculectomy side healed in an average of 43.20 days but on the control side they healed in an average of 32.80 days (p < 0.05). Wound healing was slower and scars were broader and more irregular on the panniculectomy side. In our new model, addition of panniculectomy to full thickness burn injury significantly delayed wound healing with a decrease in scar quality. This is a simple, economic and effective animal model to study delayed wound healing.