A MIXTURE OF ALLOGENEIC AND AUTOLOGOUS MICROSKIN GRAFTING OF RABBIT SKIN WOUNDS WITH BIOBRANE OVERLAY

A mixture of allogeneic and autologous microskin grafts (10:1 expansion ratio) were transplanted and overlain with Biobrane, on to full-thickness skin wounds (8.0 x 5.0 cm in size) in 16 rabbits. They were divided into two groups: in group I, the expansion ratio of both allo- and autograft was 20:1; in group II, the expansion ratio of allo- and autograft was 15:1 and 30:1 respectively. On day 9, all wounds of group I and II were almost completely resurfaced with neoepithelium. There was no serious rejection reaction within the neoepithelium and the wounds were maintained completely resurfaced after day 9. There were scales on the epithelialized wound which were more numerous in group II than in group I. Histological examination revealed that these wounds were resurfaced with well-differentiated epithelium which contained two different histological patterns. They were identified as the survived transplanted allogeneic and autologous microskin grafts, each having their own characteristic histological features and different sex chromosome. Thus both the largely expanded allogeneic and autologous microskin grafts could proliferate together and contribute to the resurfacing of the wound. With this method, the rabbit skin wound could be resurfaced completely after the ninth postoperative day with markedly minimized amounts of autologous and allogeneic grafts,