THE FATE OF FREE AUTOGENOUS FASCIAL GRAFTS IN THE RABBIT

Fascial grafts were taken from 34 New Zealand rabbits and implanted above and below the cranial periosteum in the same animal. They were placed as four-layered folded grafts and as single-layered grafts. When harvested from 6 to 14 months after transplantation, the multi-layered grafts and the single-layered grafts on bone had maintained their bulk but consisted histologically of only a retained collagen matrix with no viable cellular structure. The one-layered grafts on periosteum, however, retained their cellular make-up with normal vascularity and normal cellular structure when harvested at approximately the same intervals. © 1990 The Trustees of British Association of Plastic Surgeons. All rights reserved.