A Medical Research and Evaluation Facility and Studies Supporting the Medical Chemical Defense Program

Surgical production of the isolated, perfused porcine skin flap (IPPSF) model involved resection and suturing of an area of inguinal skin to form a tubular flap. Two days after production, the flap was cannulated and perfused in an environmentally controlled chamber. The objective of this work was to establish the IPPSF technology at Battelle for examining the dermatotoxicity of topically applied sulfur mustard (HD) and for assessing candidate countermeasures. Data obtained from an initial set of untreated flaps indicated that the technology transfer was successful. However, subsequent flaps exhibited a slow deadline in metabolism regardless of treatment (untreated, ethanol, or HD in ethanol). The effects of HD in ethanol were not observed as previously reported. Flaps perfused with media made with a different bovine serum albumin exhibited some of the anticipated effects, but these changes were independent of topical flap treatment Battelle personnel were not able to consistently duplicate the effects of HD applied on flaps as previously reported. Flap performance appeared to be highly sensitive to variations in vascular anatomy, harvesting procedures, and perfusion media composition and pH. The results indicated that the IPPSF model was unsuitable for assessing the efficacy of candidate countermeasures against topically applied HD.