In vivo safety of self-filling osmotic tissue expander / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:The osmotic tissue expander is a self-fil ing device consisting of an osmotic active hydrogel which is made of vinylpyrrolidone and mehtylmethacrylate. It can absorb body fluids and swel up gradual y after embedded. OBJECTIVE:To explore the short-term and long-term regular patterns as wel as histocompatibility of the osmotic tissue expander in vivo. METHODS:A self-control design was carried out in Wistar rats by embedding the osmotic tissue expander and high-density polyethylene into each side of their spinal column subcutaneously. Wound healing, tissue expansion and inflammatory reaction were detected and compared at different periods after operation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Al the wounds got primary healing. The device expanded fastest at week 1 after the implantation. After being enlarged to about nine times that of the initial size at week 4, the expander slowed down its swel ing. It reached its ultimate volume at week 12 which was about 10 times as big as that of the initial one. Then it remained almost the same size until the end of our design. Pathological sections showed that the inflammatory reaction of osmotic-tissue-expander-group had no significant difference from that of the control group (P>0.05). These findings suggest that osmotic tissue expander has a slow-lasting swel ing ability and good histocompatibility.