The Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery Axial Flap to Study Ischemic Preconditioning Effects in a Rat ModelYanis Berkane *1,2,3,5, Austin Alana Shamlou *1,2,4,5, Jose Reyes 1,2, Hyshem H. Lancia 1,2,5, Irina Filz von Reiterdank 1,2,5,6,7, Nicolas Bertheuil 3, Basak E. Uygun 2,5,6, Korkut Uygun 1,2,5,6, William G. Austen Jr. 2,4, Curtis L. Cetrulo Jr. 1,2,4,5, Mark A. Randolph 1,2,4,5, Alexandre G. Lellouch 1,2,5,6,8
1Vascularized Composite Allotransplantation Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2Harvard Medical School, 3Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, Rennes University Hospital Center (CHU de Rennes), University of Rennes 1, 4Plastic Surgery Research Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital, 5Shriners Children's Boston, 6Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, 7Department of Plastic Surgery and Hand Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht, 8Department of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery, Groupe Almaviva Santé, Clinique de l'Alma
This protocol describes harvesting, suturing, and monitoring fasciocutaneous flaps in rats that allow for good visualization and manipulation of blood flow through the superficial inferior epigastric vessels by means of clamping and ligating the femoral vessels. This is critical for studies involving ischemic preconditioning.
