Plastic surgery: the rainbow profession

Trehalose is a disaccharide that can stabilise cell membranes under various stressful conditions. We have studied the effect of trehalose on the ischaemic tolerance of fat skeletal muscle flaps. A rat gracilis model was used to evaluate the prolongation of ischaemic preservation of the modified solution in which trehalose was substituted for glucose in Euro-Collins solution. Four groups of animals were studied. In two groups, flaps were preserved in Euro-Collins solution or trehalose Euro-Collins solution for various ischaemic intervals (6, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours). In two additional groups, after storage for various periods in the two solutions, muscle flaps were replanted into the original animals with microvascular anastomoses, and were investigated by light and electron microscopy on the seventh postoperative day. Trehalose Euro-Collins solution significantly prolonged ischaemic tolerance compared with Euro-Collins solution alone at 24 and 48 hours.