Effect of implant location on compressibility and capsule formation around miniprostheses in rats, and experimental capsule contracture.

Our study of experimental contracture in rats confirms the existence in laboratory animals of a phenomenon very much like human capsule contracture. The ultrastructural features of capsules in rats are essentially identical to those for humans and rabbits. Macrophages with silicon-containing material were present. Star-shaped myofibroblasts with extended processes appeared in contracted and noncontracted capsules. The myofibroblasts contained bundles of 60 to 80 A microfilaments with included dense bodies, convoluted nuclei, and extensive peripheral vesiculation. The myofibroblasts tended to be associated with more extensive ground substance and smaller diameter extracellular fibrils than were normal synthetic fibroblasts. The incidence of contracture was similar for implants beneath different amounts of overlying soft tissue dorsally and sternally, while compressibility and subjective softness were greater for implants beneath lesser amounts of overlying tissue. A greater mass of capsule formed beneath the heavier covering, however, suggesting that in clinical experience, cosmetically more acceptable results from submuscular prosthesis placement are probably due to a padding effect. Capsule glycosaminoglycans were primarily hyaluronic acid and dermatan sulfate. The occurrence of myofibroblasts in these capsules at a relatively late period (26 weeks) implicates myofibroblasts in the contracture mechanism, but details are still unknown. Contracture is a property of the capsule tissue; preliminary observations suggest that its occurrence is independent of species, anatomical site, surgical procedure, presence of extruded gel, presence of myofibroblasts, capsule thickness, or protein, collagen, or glycosaminoglycan composition. Cells within the capsule were geometrically asymmetrical, being extremely flattened in the plane parallel to the prosthesis surface.