Background: Recently, many plastic surgeons have been using adipogenic-differentiated cell implantation for remodeling scars in patients. However, this technique is not a long-term solution because implanted cells disappear gradually. Therefore, we investigated a method to increase the grafted cell preservation rate by using an effective adjuvant, botulinum toxin.
Methods: The adipogenic-differentiated cells were subcutaneously injected in the dorsal area of C57/BL6 mice with or without botulinum toxin. Two and six weeks later we analyzed the residual volume and confirmed the characteristics of the implanted cells by real-time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry.
Results: Two and six weeks after transplantation we found that the residual volume of the transplantation site was higher in the botulinum toxin-treated group than in the untreated group. We also confirmed that the residual transplanted area has characteristics of adipogenic tissue by histological analysis. Next, to determine the mechanism related to the enhanced preservation rate of grafted cells via treatment with botulinum toxin, we performed immunohistochemical staining for the angiogenesis-related marker CD31. We found that CD31 expression was higher in the botulinum toxin-treated group than in the untreated group.
Conclusion: We have shown that in vivo grafted adipocyte cell preservation can be enhanced by treatment with botulinum toxin as an adjuvant. We suggest that botulinum toxin further increases this graft preservation rate by enhancing angiogenesis.