Background: In plastic surgery, a causal relationship between heavy smoking and flap necrosis has been shown. The deleterious effect of nicotine in random skin flaps in rats has also been proven, being related to vasoconstriction and possibly reactive oxygen species. This study aimed to verify the capacity of dimethyl sulfoxide, an antioxidant, to block the deleterious effect of nicotine in a random skin flap.
Methods: Fourteen adult male Wistar-EPM rats were distributed at random into two groups of seven animals. The nicotine group received this drug subcutaneously (1.2 mg/kg/day), for 1 week before flap elevation. The nicotine plus dimethyl sulfoxide group followed the same routine. Five minutes before the surgical procedure, rats in the nicotine group received distilled water orally and rats in the nicotine plus dimethyl sulfoxide group received dimethyl sulfoxide orally (2 ml/kg). Blood and skin tissue samples were collected to allow determination of malondialdehyde levels.
Results: The nicotine group had a mean value of 40.2 percent and the nicotine plus dimethyl sulfoxide group had a mean value of 20.6 percent necrosis (p = 0.009). Malondialdehyde levels in both serum and skin samples were lower in the animals that received dimethyl sulfoxide.
Conclusion: The deleterious effect of nicotine was effectively blocked by dimethyl sulfoxide.