Searching for the favorable donor site for fat injection: In vivo study using the nude mice model

BACKGROUND. The use of suctioned fat grafts for correction of soft tissue defects is a widespread procedure in esthetic and reconstructive surgery. The main disadvantage of this simple and sensible procedure is the unpredictable absorption rate of the fat graft. A lot of research has been performed aiming for enhancement of the take of the fat grafts. OBJECTIVE. Our study was performed to find if there is any favorable donor site for fat harvesting. METHODS. This in vivo experiment using the nude mice model enables the study of the long-term survival of human fat in an animal model. The fat was harvested from three donor areas: the thigh, abdomen, and breast of a 48-year-old woman who came for an elective esthetic procedure. After centrifugation, 1 cc of fat was injected subcutaneously into the scalp of the nude mouse. There were 15 mice in each of the three groups, according to the selected donor sites. The animals were sacrificed 16 weeks after the procedure. The extracted fat was evaluated in terms of weight, volume, and six histologic parameters: integrity, vascularization, cyst formation, fibrosis, necrosis, and inflammation. RESULTS. This study could not find any statistically significant differences between the three investigated donor sites in the evaluated parameters. CONCLUSION. On the basis of this study, there is no favorable area for harvesting fat grafts. The donor site can be chosen according to the preference of the surgeon and the patient.