Creating and Transferring an Innervated, Vascularized Muscle Flap Made from an Elastic, Cellularized Tissue Construct Developed In Situ.

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Reanimating facial structures following paralysis and muscle loss is a surgical objective that would benefit from improved options for harvesting appropriately sized muscle flaps. The objective of this study is to apply electrohydrodynamic processing to generate a cellularized, elastic, biocomposite scaffold that could develop and mature as muscle in a prepared donor site in vivo, and then be transferred as a thin muscle flap with a vascular and neural pedicle. First, an effective extracellular matrix (ECM) gel type is selected for the biocomposite scaffold from three types of ECM combined with poly(ester urethane)urea microfibers and evaluated in rat abdominal wall defects. Next, two types of precursor cells (muscle-derived and adipose-derived) are compared in constructs placed in rat hind limb defects for muscle regeneration capacity. Finally, with a construct made from dermal ECM and muscle-derived stem cells, protoflaps are implanted in one hindlimb for development and then microsurgically transferred as a free flap to the contralateral limb where stimulated muscle function is confirmed. This construct generation and in vivo incubation procedure may allow the generation of small-scale muscle flaps appropriate for transfer to the face, offering a new strategy for facial reanimation.

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

Browse all related research

Filter the research library by this study's title keywords, author, or publication year.