Heparin protects against skin flap necrosis: relationship to neutrophil recruitment and anti-coagulant activity
Objective and design: Heparin has been shown to improve survival of surgical skin flaps. However, it is not known whether the protective effect of heparin is related to it's anticoagulative or anti-inflammatory effects. Methods: Surgical flaps were raised in the dorsal skin of Sprague-Dawley rats. Neutrophil recruitment was determined by measuring the tissue content of myeloperoxidase (MPO) and cl
