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Oral Administration of L-Arginine Decreases Necrosis of the Epigastric Skin Flap in the Rat

2004; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 53; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/01.sap.0000106582.91877.02

1536-3708

Ewa Komorowska–Timek, Tomasz A. Timek, Lucy S. Brevetti, Andrzej Szuba, Marcus Stuehlinger, Robert A. Hardesty, Harry J. Buncke,

Electrospun Nanofibers in Biomedical Applications

In Brief Background: We investigated the effect of prolonged oral arginine administration on tissue necrosis and perfusion in the rat skin flap. Methods: Twenty-five Sprague-Dawley rats had an 8 × 8-cm epigastric skin flap elevated and were divided in 2 groups, l-Arginine and Control, which respectively received oral 6% l-arginine solution or water for 8 days postoperatively. On postoperative day 8, area of flap necrosis was measured, and the animals were perfused systemically with 15-μm colored fluorescent microspheres before (blue) and after (yellow-green) ligation of the flap pedicle. Results: l-Arginine reduced total flap necrosis (6.53 ± 3.76 cm2 versus 11.91 ± 4.12 cm2; P < 0.01). After pedicle ligation, total flap perfusion remained unchanged in Control but diminished in the l-Arginine group (Control: 0.47 ± 0.23 and 0.42 ± 0.06; P = nonsignificant versus l-Arginine: 0.58 ± 0.29 and 0.27 ± 0.19; P < 0.01). Serum levels of l-arginine were higher in the l-arginine-treated animals (504 ± 154 versus 152 ± 34 μmol/l; P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Postoperative oral administration of l-arginine decreased flap necrosis in the rat epigastric skin flap. Flap perfusion following oral l-arginine was more dependent on the main vascular pedicle. In a rat epigastric flap model, the oral administration of 6% L-arginine for eight days after flap elevation resulted in a reduction of flap necrotic area over controls.