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Updated: Aug 25, 2025
Minced Tissue in Compressed Collagen: A Cell-containing Biotransplant for Single-staged Reconstructive Repair
Published on: February 24, 2016
Tissue integration and biodegradation of soft tissue substitutes with and without compression: an experimental study
Stefan P Bienz1, Cedryck Vaquette2, Alexis Ioannidis3
1Clinic of Reconstructive Dentistry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. stefan.bienz@zzm.uzh.ch.
Objectives:
To analyze the influence of compression on tissue integration and degradation of soft tissue substitutes.
Material And Methods:
Six subcutaneous pouches in twenty-eight rats were prepared and boxes made of Al2O3 were implanted and used as carriers for soft tissue substitutes: a collagen matrix (MG), two volume-stable collagen matrices (FG/MGA), and a polycaprolactone scaffold(E). The volume-stable materials (FG/MGA/E) were further implanted with a twofold (2) and a fourfold (4) compression, created by the stacking of additional layers of the substitute materials. The samples were retrieved at 1, 2, and 12 weeks (10 groups, 3 time points, n = 5 per time point and group, overall, 150 samples). The area fraction of infiltrated fibroblasts and inflammatory cells was evaluated histologically. Due to within-subject comparisons, mixed models were conducted for the primary outcome. The level of significance was set at 5%.
Results:
The area fraction of fibroblasts increased in all groups over time. At 12 weeks, the densely compressed materials FG4 (1.1%), MGA4 (1.7%), and MGA2 (2.5%) obtained lower values as compared to the other groups, ranging between 4.7 (E2) and 6.5% (MG). Statistically significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were observed between groups FG4 vs MG/FG2/E/E4 as well as between MGA4 vs MG/FG2/E/E4 and E vs MGA2.
Conclusions:
Higher levels of compression led to delayed tissue integration. The effect of different compression levels was more distinct when compared to the differences between the materials.
Clinical Relevance:
All biomaterials demonstrated tissue integration and a minimal concomitant inflammatory reaction. Clinically, it might be more favorable to obtain a sufficient flap release or to reduce the material size to improve the tissue integration processes.
