A Swine Burn Model for Investigating the Healing Process in Multiple Depth Burn Wounds

Summary

This protocol describes a reproducible multi-depth burn wound model in a Yucatan minipigs.

Abstract

Burn wound healing is a complex and long process. Despite extensive experience, plastic surgeons and specialized teams in burn centers still face significant challenges. Among these challenges, the extent of the burned soft tissue can evolve in the early phase, creating a delicate balance between conservative treatments and necrosing tissue removal. Thermal burns are the most common type, and burn depth varies depending on multiple parameters, such as temperature and exposure time. Burn depth also varies in time, and the secondary aggravation of the "shadow zone" remains a poorly understood phenomenon. In response to these challenges, several innovative treatments have been studied, and more are in the early development phase. Nanoparticles in modern wound dressings and artificial skin are examples of these modern therapies still under evaluation. Taken together, both burn diagnosis and burn treatments need substantial advancements, and research teams need a reliable and relevant model to test new tools and therapies. Among animal models, swine are the most relevant because of their strong similarities in skin structure with humans. More specifically, Yucatan minipigs show interesting features such as melanin pigmentation and slow growth, allowing for studying high phototypes and long-term healing. This article aims to describe a reliable and reproducible protocol to study multi-depth burn wounds in Yucatan minipigs, enabling long-term follow-up and providing a relevant model for diagnosis and therapeutic studies.

Introduction

Burns are a major public health problem and affect more than 480,000 patients in the US each year, according to the National Burn Repository^1,2. This leads to more than 50,000 yearly hospitalizations for non-fatal complex cases requiring in-depth care². Moreover, burns are a fundamental cause of military mortality and morbidity and are responsible for 10% to 30% of military casualties^3,4. The management of burns has remained nearly unchanged for a long time, despite its immense and diverse impacts on patients, ranging from physi....

Protocol

All animal work was performed in accordance with the ARRIVE (Animal Research: Reporting In Vivo Experiments) checklist³⁷ and was compliant with the Massachusetts General Hospital Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) under protocol #2021N000271. Humane care was provided to the animals, following the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals³⁸. Five 30 kg female Yucatán minipigs were used for these experiments. The animals were obtained from a comme.......

Discussion

Wound healing following burn injuries is a long process that can take up to several months, with various treatment options and considerations for patient care^2,13. In order to study it, a reliable and reproducible model is needed. Several animal models have been described, mainly including rodents^29,45,46 and swine^29,4.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Adson tissue forceps	Jarit	130-234
Aluminum beads	Lab Armor	42370-002	Lab Armor Beads
Buprenorphine hydrochloride	Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals	NDC:12469-0757-01	Buprenex Injectable
Carprofen	Pfizer	NADA 141-199	Rymadyl 50mg/ml injectable
Cylindric brass block	Hand-made	N/A	Engineering drawing included in the manuscript
Dermographic pen	McKesson	Surgical Skin Marker Sterile
Disposable #15 surgical scalpels	Medline	MDS15315	Scalpel blades
Fentanyl patch	Mylan	NDC:60505-7082	Fentanyl Transdermal System
Isoflurane	Piramal	NDC:66794-013-25	Isoflurane, USP
McPherson Bipolar coagulation forceps	Bovie	A842	Reusable, autoclavable
Miltex assorted biopsy punches (3,4 and 5 mm)	Integra	33-38	Biopsy punches- size to adapt to the study
Non woven gauze	Starryshine	GZNW22	2 x 2" non woven 4 ply medical gauze pads
Povidone-Iodine	Betadine	NDC:0034-9200-88	Surgical scrub 7.5%
Sterile isotonic sodium chloride solution 0.9%	Aqualite System	RL-2095	Sterile saline solution
Tattoo ink	Spaulding & Rogers	Black - 2 oz - #9053
Tattoo marker	Spaulding & Rogers	Special Electric Tattoo Marker
Tattoo needle	Spaulding & Rogers	1310251	Tattoo 5 point needle
Tegaderm Transparent Film Dressing	3M	1.628	Large transparent adhesive dressing
Temperature-controlled hot plate	Cole-Parmer	03407-11	StableTemp hot plate stirrer
Thermometer	American Scientific	U14295	Tube mercury thermometerr
Tiletamine and zolazepam hydrochloride	Zoetis	NDC:54771-9050	Telazol
Tincture of Benzoin Spray	Smith&Nephew	407000	Adhesive layer spray
Triple Antibiotic ointment	Fougera	NDC 0168-0012-31	Triple antibiotic ointment
Tubular stockinette	Medline	NONNET02	Curad Medline Latex Free Elastic Nets
Warming blanket	3M	Bair Hugger 750 warming unit
Xeroform Occlusive Gauze Strip	Covidien	8884433301	Xeroform petrolatum wound dressings
Xylazine	Vetone	NDC:13985-704-10	AnaSed LA
Yucatàn minipigs (female, 30 kg)	Sinclair Bio Resources	N/A	Full pigmentation