Abstract
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has an important role in musculoskeletal surgery; however, it has been underutilized for accelerating the healing of abdominal wall defects in veterinary practice. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the use of commercial polyester/cotton fabric (Damour) as a new composite mesh for the repair of experimentally induced abdominal wall defects in canine models, and to investigate the possible role of PRP for improving such repair and reducing allied complications. For this purpose, abdominal wall defects were created in 24 healthy mongrel dogs and then repaired with mesh alone (control group) or mesh and allogenic PRP (PRP group). Dogs were euthanized after 2 or 4 months for gross examination of implantation site, detection of adhesion score and hernia recurrence. Moreover, tissue samples were collected for histological and gene expression analyses for neovascularization, collagen formation and tissue incorporation. Hernia recurrence was not recorded in PRP-treated dogs that also displayed significantly more neovascularization and less severe adhesion to the underlings (1.08 ± 0.51) in comparison to control group (2.08 ± 0.99). Histological and molecular evaluation confirmed the gross findings that collagen deposition, new vessel formation, and overexpression of angiogenic and myofibroplastic genes (COL1α1, COL3α1, VEGF and TGFβ1) were observed more frequently in the PRP group, at both time points. In conclusion, we found that addition of allogenic PRP to Damour mesh enhanced neovessel formation, and increased tissue deposition and incorporation, with subsequent reduction of peritoneal adhesion and recurrence rate.