A New Model for Standardising and Treating Thermal Injury in the Rat

We describe a rat thermal burn model that involves: anaesthesia, chronic catheterisation, skin preparation, baseline hemodynamic and physiological monitoring, and a quantifiable method to reproduce a severe full-thickness burns injury affecting ∼30% percent of the total body surface area (%TBSA). Following a 15 min post-burn period, treatment commences with an acute monitoring phase lasting up to 8 hours, which can be modified according to individual protocols. This model reflects the clinical continuum-of-care from point-of injury, a 15 min ambulance response time, a 60 min prehospital phase and hospital treatment monitoring phase. The model is validated with histological evidence of full-thickness injury, evidence of the hypermetabolic response (K+, Base Excess, lactate) and changes in complete blood counts.•It has been 50 years since Walker and Mason published their widely popular a standard animal burn model.•The model, however, lacks quantifiable methodology for the assessment of burn thickness, surface area burnt and physiological status.•We present a new standardised method for evaluation of drug and interventional therapies that mimic the clinical scenario including ambulance response, pre-hospital and hospital phases after burn.Graphical abstract
Source: MethodsX - Category: Science Source Type: research