ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND@#Necroptosis is a new form of cell death that has been identified as a third pathway causing cell death. In this study, necrostatin-1 (Nec-1) was used to determine whether necroptosis exists in a rat ischaemia/reperfusion injury flap model.@*METHODS@#In this study, twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into two groups: a control group (CTL group) and a Nec-1 group. Each abdominal skin flap underwent 3 h of ischaemia and then reperfusion. Fifteen minutes before and after reperfusion, phosphate buffer saline (PBS) was administered intraperitoneally to the CTL group, while Nec-1 was administered intraperitoneally to the Nec-1 group. Twenty-four hours after reperfusion, the whole flap was divided equally into 54 sections. Flap blood perfusion was measured. One sample was taken randomly from each row. Morphological changes, apoptosis, receptor-interacting protein-1 (RIP-1) expression and caspase-3 activity were observed and detected. The measurements between the two groups were compared with the independent t-test, and a P value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.@*RESULTS@#Compared to flaps in the CTL group, flaps in the Nec-1 group showed longer survival rates, better blood perfusion and less inflammatory infiltration. The total flap area considered to have survived was 70.88 ± 10.28% in the CTL group, whereas 80.56 ± 5.40% of the area was found to be living in the Nec-1 group (Nec-1 vs. CTL, t = -2.624, P < 0.05). For some rows, there were significant differences in cell apoptosis between the two groups, the apoptosis index (AI) in rows "9 cm", "7 cm", "6 cm" and "5 cm" was significantly lower in the Nec-1 group than that in the CTL group (Nec-1 vs. CTL, P < 0.05). RIP-1 expression was much lower in the Nec-1 group than that in the CTL group in rows "5 cm" to "9 cm" (Nec-1 vs. CTL, P < 0.05). No significant differences in caspase-3 activity were found.@*CONCLUSION@#According to the results, necroptosis was present in a rat abdominal ischaemia/reperfusion injury flap model.