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Objective@#To investigate the curative effect of auricular deformity repaired by concha cartilage.@*Methods@#From January 2017 to June 2018, 15 cases with auricular deformities were repaired using the autologous concha cartilage which combined with the retroauricular flap or retroauricular fascia with skin grafting. 9 males and 6 females, aged 10-40 with an average age of 19; 3 cases of upper 1/3 traumatic auricle defect, 2 cases of congenital Stahl's ear, 5 cases of congenital cup-shaped ear and 5 cases of congenital cryptotia.@*Results@#Total 15 patients were followed up for 12-18 months after the surgery. The area of concha cartilage resection was about 0.5 cm×1.0 cm. The shape and size of the repaired ears were similar to the healthy ear. The transplanted cartilages were not absorbed or deformed. The incision was healed well and retroauricular flap, retroauricular fascia, and skin grafting were preserved well without complications like hemorrhage, necrosis, and infection.@*Conclusions@#This method is harmless and simple, which has reliable and satisfactory effects on various auricular deformities.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#Bioinformatics methods were used to annotate the suspicious pathogenic genes of congenital microtia in detail, and construct the protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks to clarify the function and interaction of pathogenic genes, so as to predict the potential pathogenic genes.@*Methods@#The pathogenic genes of congenital microtia were searched using the mouse genome informatics (MGI). The results were summarized into the STRING database to construct PPI networks. The Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were carried out.@*Results@#Sixty-eight congenital microtia-related pathogenic genes such as FGF8, EYA1 and HOXA2 were searched by MGI. The PPI network contained 65 nodes and 174 edges. The average node degree was 5.35. The clustering coefficient was 0.437 and the PPI enrichment P = 0. The key node proteins were screened in PPI networks. The top ten were CTNNB1, FGF8, EGFR, BCL2, PAX6, FGF3, FGF10, WNT5A, FGFR1 and MAPK1. GO analysis and KEGG pathway analysis showed: the pathogenic genes were involved in the biological process of ear morphogenesis, ear development and embryonic organ morphogenesis. They also get involved in the molecular regulation, including sequence-specific DNA binding and regulatory region DNA binding. Expression of different genes were located in nucleus and other sub-microscopic cell components. Pathogenic genes were also involved in cancer pathway, melanoma, MAPK signaling pathways, RAS signaling pathways and other signaling pathways.@*Conclusions@#By using bioinformatics tools, we constructed the PPI networks of the congenital microtia pathogenic genes, and obtained detailed GO enrichment and KEGG pathway data. The key nodes contained the confirmed pathogenic genes of congenital microtia, which preliminarily proved the feasibility of the bioinformatics method in this study. We found some nodes were closely linked with FGF and WNT, which may be potential mutant genes of congenital microtia, although further study is needed.
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Objective@#To identify a pig model with bilateral external ear defects accompanied by aural atresia and investigate its application in plastic surgery.@*Methods@#Erhualian×Shaziling F2 pig inbreeding population was introduced, and examination of external ear morphology was conducted in all individuals. Temporal computed tomography scanning and mutational detection of HOXA1 gene were conducted in one affected and one normal individuals.@*Results@#In Erhualian×Shaziling F2 pig inbreeding population, there were 57 normal and 18 affected individuals among the 75 pigs. Affected subjects presented bilateral external ear defects accompanied by aural atresia; temporal computed tomography scanning showed bilateral aural atresia and dysplasiaof middle ear; and gene detection identified homozygous mutation of HOXA1 gene.@*Conclusions@#Pig model with HOXA1 gene homozygous mutation resembles human microtia at different levels. Our findings provide the theoretical basis for its application to study further pathological mechanism for human microtia.