A Deep Tissue Injury Rat Model for Pressure Ulcer Research
Fang Lin, DSc1-3 , Briana Reprogle2 , Mauli Modi, MS2 , Atek Pandya, BS1-2 , Mohsen Makhsous, PhD1-4
Departments of 1 SMPP, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, 2 PTHMS, 3 PM&R, 4 Orthopaedic Surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, USA 60611

Abstract:

Pressure ulcer (PU) can initiate in deep muscle closer to bony prominences. The recently emphasized deep tissue injury (DTI) mechanism has received increased attention and several studies reported newly developed DTI animal models. However, concerns exist for the clinical relevance and validity of these models. We propose a rat PU/DTI model which is more clinically relevant by implementing an implant on the bone-tissue interface to simulate the bony prominence as well as including chronic SCI condition. Histological analyses confirmed that the condition of chronic SCI had significant effect on pressure-induced tissue injury in this rat PU model and the including of a simulated bony prominence resulted in significantly greater injury in deep muscle tissue. Further integration of the SCI and the simulated bony prominence would result a rat PU/DTI model which can simulate even more accurately the clinical phenomenon and yield more clinically relevant findings.

Keywords:

Deep tissue injury; Animal model; Spinal cord injury; Histology; Implant;

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

The project was supported by NIH Award #K25 HD051983-01A1. Imaging work was performed at the Northwestern University Cell Imaging Facility generously supported by NCI CCSG P30 CA060553 awarded to the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center. The authors are grateful of Ziyan Wang, Micheal Bajema and Dongkeun Lee for their help with data collection, apparatus fabrication, and data processing.

Correspondence Author:

Mohsen Makhsous, Dept of Physical Therapy & Human Movement Sciences, Northwestern Univ., 645 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1100, Chicago, IL 60611. Phone 312-503-0073. Email: m-makhsous2@northwestern.edu


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