Page 102 - Postoperative Intra-Abdominal Adhesions- New insights in prevention and consequences

Chapter 6
Animals studied
Male inbred rats of the Wistar strain weighing 340-390 gram were obtained from a licensed breeder (Harlan, the Netherlands) and given two weeks to become customized to laboratory conditions before the start of the experiment. The animals were bred under specific pathogen- free conditions, kept under standard laboratory conditions in individually ventilated cages (temperature 20-24°C; relative humidity 50%-60%; 12 hour light and 12 hour dark cycles) and fed with standard rat chow and water ad libitum during the whole study period. The protocol of the experiment was approved by the Animal Experiments Committee of the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Table 1: Meshes included in experiment
Brand name
Prolene®
Parietex Composite®
Strattice Tissue MatrixTM
Surgisis® Permacol®
Materials
Basic Material
Polypropylene
Polyester
Porcine dermis
Small intestinal submucosa
Porcine dermis
Modification
None
Collagen- polyethylene-glycol- glycerol coating
Non-crosslinked Non-crosslinked Crosslinked
Manufacturer
Ethicon, Johnson and Johnson, Somerville, NJ, USA
Covidien surgical, Dublin, Ireland
Lifecell, KCI, Branchburg, NJ
Cook Biotech, IN, USA
Covidien surgical, Dublin, Ireland
Table 1 presents the materials and the brand names of the five meshes tested. Before use the biological scaffolds Strattice and Surgisis were rehydrated or soaked as directed by the manufacturer. Monofilament polypropylene 5-0 (Ethilon, Johnson & Johnson Medical, New Brunswick, NJ, USA) sutures were used for mesh fixation to the abdominal wall and closure. Multifilament polyglyconate 5-0 sutures (Safil, B.Braun) were used for closure of the skin.
Procedure
The experiment was performed under aseptic conditions using a modification of a validated rat model previously described by Burger et al [14, 22]. At the start of the study, the animals were anesthetised
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