A physicochemical approach to improving free fat graft survival: preliminary observations.

A different experiment approach to the problem of post-transplantation free fat graft resorption was evaluated. Bioactive free fat grafts were created through the addition of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) carried on positively charged, hydrophilic, dextran beads to the grafts. This bioactive graft was compared with contralateral free fat grafts in the lateral facial areas of mature rats. After 90 days, when compared with the body mass increase of the animals, complete retention of the bioactive fat grafts occurred in contrast to the free grafts that exhibited loss of nearly half of their original weight. The histologic findings of small-sized adipocytes or adipocyte buds among larger adipocytes in the bioactive grafts raise the possibility of activation and induced differentiation of a preadipocyte cell line in these grafts.