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Updated: Jun 17, 2025
Modified Heterotopic Hindlimb Osteomyocutaneous Flap Model in the Rat for Translational Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Research
Published on: April 26, 2019
Sub-zero non-freezing of vascularized composite allografts in a rodent partial hindlimb model
I Filz von Reiterdank1, P Tawa2, Y Berkane3
1Center for Engineering for Medicine and Surgery, Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Shriners Children's Boston, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Hand Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands; Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
None:
Ischemia is a major limiting factor in Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation (VCA) as irreversible muscular injury can occur after as early as 4-6 h of static cold storage (SCS). Organ preservation technologies have led to the development of storage protocols extending rat liver ex vivo preservation up to 4 days. Development of such a protocol for VCAs has the added challenge of inherent ice nucleating factors of the graft, therefore, this study focused on developing a robust protocol for VCA supercooling. Rodent partial hindlimbs underwent subnormothermic machine perfusion (SNMP) with several loading solutions, followed by a storage solution with cryoprotective agents (CPA) developed for VCAs. Storage occurred in suspended animation for 24h and VCAs were recovered using SNMP with modified Steen. This study shows a robust VCA supercooling preservation protocol in a rodent model. Further optimization is expected to allow for its application in a transplantation model, which would be a breakthrough in the field of VCA preservation.
