Establishment and application of wound model of full-thickness skin defect in minipigs

Objective To establish an experimental model of full thickness skin defect in minipigs and to investigate the effects of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) on wound healing.Motheds After the skin on back of the minipigs was shaved, the cut skin in each side of spinal column was removed with a specific traumatoqenic apparatus (18?mm in diameter) to achieve a full thickness skin defect wound. The wounds were randomly divided into two groups (n=16): the wounds treated with bFGF served as the experimental group, while those not treated with bFGF as the control group. At the 3rd, 7th and 14th day after injury, the area of the wounds and wound volume were measured and the histological examination was performed to evaluate the wounds healing.Results Three and 7 days after injury, in the bFGF treated group, the area of wounds was decreased to (1.81±0.15)?cm 2 and (0.51±0.10)?cm 2 respectively, significantly less than in the blank control group (2.00±0.21)?cm 2 and (0.61±0.11)?cm 2 respectively) (P0.05);The wound volume in the bFGF treated group was significantly decreased to (0.49±0.07)?ml and (0.02±0.04)?ml respectively, significantly smaller than in the non treated group (0.61±0.17)?ml and (0.14±0.16)?ml respectively) (P0.05). Histological examination revealed that most of the wounds in the experimental group were re epithelialization at the 14th day, but in control group most of the wounds were not healed on day 14 after operation.Conclusion The wound model of full thickness skin defect in minipig holds good to study the effects of medicine for external use on wound healing. bFGF can promote the wound healing.