Prolonged vital cartilage graft preservation using tissue culture methods

Abstract

Cartilage grafting is one of the most commonly performed procedures in plastic surgery. Since storage of both autologous and allogenic cartilage is necessary, different preservation methods have been used with varying success. The use of chemical preservation procedures such as formaldehyde, Merthiolate or Cialit lead to a loss of viability of the graft. This work presents a study of the cell viability of cartilage grafts stored in different solutions (saline, RPMI 1640 and DMEM) for 100 days. Cartilage immersed in saline solution lost 50% of its viability after a storage period of 6 days, after 30 days no viable cells could be observed. In contrast to this, cartilage immersed in tissue culture media retained its viability (> 80%) during the whole storage period. No differences were found between either culture medium. The results of these experiments suggest that viable cartilage tissue can be successfully stored over a long period of time using tissue culture procedures.

The Use of Platelet-Rich Plasma for Storage of Surplus Harvested Skin Grafts

“…13 In other studies, however, skin grafts stored under similar conditions lost approximately 90% of their viability after 10 days. 14,15 Therefore, there is a need to develop methods to maximize the viability of skin samples/grafts stored in refrigerators.…”

“…[23][24][25] Several authors have previously reported detailed histological changes in human skin grafts stored at 4 C in various configurations over a 4-week period. 1,2,8,[10][11][12][13][14][15] Cellular and nuclear swelling with pleomorphism have been reported to be early changes in stored grafts; nevertheless, grafts at this stage are believed to be viable. The formation of blebs that lead to epidermal separation is an important indicator of viable keratinocytes.…”