Effect of VEGF on Tail Artery Interpositional LOOP (TAIL) Flap: A Rodent Model for Flap Prefabrication

Abstract

The authors introduce an experimental model of flap prefabrication, the tail artery interpositional loop (TAIL) flap. In this model, an arterial segment from a rat tail is used to create an arteriovenous (A-V) fistula. This fistula is positioned beneath the abdominal skin flap to vascularize the overlying tissue, and a barrier of Silastic sheeting is placed below the fistula to prevent vascular ingrowth from the underlying bed. The efficacy of this new model was tested by investigating the effect of a single topical application of recombinant human VEGF (165). Treatment and control groups each contained 20 animals. In the control group, mean survival skin areas at 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks were 12.5 percent, 27 percent, 35 percent, and 50 percent, respectively. In the VEGF (165)-treated group, survival rates were 14.8 percent, 37 percent, 48 percent, and 74.3 percent, respectively. Statistically significant differences were noted between the two groups at the 2-week ( p = 0.047), 3-week ( p = 0.048), and 4-week ( p = 0.023) time intervals. The authors conclude that the TAIL flap is a novel and useful animal model to study flap prefabrication.

Effects of Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor on Survival of Surgical Flaps: A Review of Experimental Studies

“…41,60,111 Stebbins used a tail artery interpositional loop (TAIL), an artificially created arteriovenous fistula, to supply an abdominal flap as an experimental prefabricated flap model in rats. 41 Single topical application of rhVEGF 165 increased flap survival areas significantly compared with controls at 2, 3, and 4 weeks postapplication (37% versus 27%, 48% versus 35%, and 74.3% versus 50%, respectively). No significant difference was found at 1 week (14.8% versus 12.5%), which indicated that the possible mechanism was neovascularization, a slower process than vasodilation.…”