Adenovirus‐mediated angiopoietin‐1 gene therapy enhances skin flap survival

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Abstract
This experimental study investigates the feasibility of pretreating the abdominal skin of a rat with subdermal injections of adenovirus encoding angiopoietin‐1 in order to improve postoperative survival of the skin flap. An epigastric skin flap was used as the model in this study. Rats received subdermal injections of adenovirus encoding either angiopoietin‐1 (treatment group) or green fluorescent protein (treatment control), or they received no treatment (control group). Subdermal injections were made 2 days prior to surgery, and skin flap survival was assessed 7 days afterwards as a percentage of necrotic area over total skin flap area. The treatment group which received adenovirus‐mediated angiopoietin‐1 had a median percent necrotic area of 11.01%, a significant decrease from the control group, which had a median percent necrotic area of 32.24% (P < 0.001). The results of this study suggest the possibility of using adenovirus‐mediated angiopoietin‐1 gene therapy to promote therapeutic angiogenesis in patients who undergo reconstructive procedures. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. MICROSURGERY 23:374–380 2003