EUROPEAN  TISSUE  REPAIR  SOCIETY

YOUNG INVESTIGATORS · AWARDS AND PRIZES
Tenth Annual Meeting of the European Tissue Repair Society, Brussels, 24–27 May 2000

Reviewers have rated all incoming abstracts and from the best ratings the following papers were independently selected by members of the local organizing committee to be presented during the Young Investigators Session. These award-winning abstracts have also been presented at other focused sessions during the conference. On behalf of the ETRS and of the local organizers we congratulate these teams for their work. We are convinced that many more authors have merits, and therefore we sincerely hope that young investigators will not be discouraged and will again submit their work at the 2001 ETRS annual meeting to be held in Cardiff.

(840 EURO, listed by first author in alphabetical order)

Falk K. et al. (Göteborg, Sweden)
A novel approach for reducing adhesion formation: inhibition of plasminogen activator inhibitor type–1 (PAI–1)

Gunnigle S.M. et al. (Leeds, U.K.)
The effect of lipopolysaccharide exposure on cutaneous wound repair in the rat.

James S.E. et al. (London, U.K.)
Healing of denervated cutaneous wounds is accelerated by the topical application of NGF but not PDGF of TGF-ß

Kopp J. et al. (Freiburg, Germany)
Healing of superficial second degree burn wounds is accelerated by stably in vitro KGF-transfected HACAT Keratinocytes – Experimental studies in pigs

Schäffer M. et al. (Tübingen, Germany)
Role of T-lymphocytes in radiation-impaired wound healing

Yeoh S. et al. (Fremantle, Western Australia)
Iron and 8-isoprostane levels in acute and chronic wounds

Yufit T. et al. (Providence, U.S.A.)
Hypoxia increases type I procollagen transcription through TGF-b action and SP1 binding

Best presentation of these Young Investigators’ talks was by S.E. James (765 EURO)

(Selected by three jury members during the conference)
(765 EURO, listed in alphabetical order)

Davies C.E. et al. (Cardiff)
A prospective study on the anaerobic microflora in the deep tissues of patients with chronic venous leg ulcers

Davis S.C. et al. (Miami)
The effect of a new hydrogel dressing for laser resurfacing

Hill C.M. et al. (Cardiff)
A randomised clinical trial of the effect of semi-occlusive dressings on the long-term clinical outcome of acute facial wounds

Falk K¹, Björquist P², Strömquist M³ and Holmdahl L^1
1Dept. of Surgery, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg University, and
² Dept. of Biochemistry, and
³Dept. Molecular Biology, Astra Hässle AB, Göteborg, Sweden

Background: Adhesion formation is a common cause of complications following surgery. A reduction of peritoneal fibrinolytic capacity during surgery is a key mechanism in the early formation of adhesions. An increase of the main inhibitor of fibrinolysis, plasminogen activator inhibitor-type 1 (PAI-1), is a major factor in the loss of fibrinolytic activity. The aim of this study was to investigate if inhibition of PAI-1 could reduce postsurgical adhesion formation.

Method: Mice (n=53) were subjected to a standardised surgical procedure in order to induce adhesion formation to the abdominal side wall. At the conclusion of the operation, Fab-fragments of polyclonal rabbit antibody against PAI-1 (PRAP-1) were injected intraperitoneally, in two different concentrations. Control animals received an equal volume of the vehicle (saline). One week postop-eratively adhesion formation was quantified.

Results: The lower dose of PRAP-1 (n=18) gave a significant reduction of adhesion formation compared to the saline control (p=0.003, n=18). The higher dose of PRAP-1 also had a significant, but not increased effect (p=0.002, n=17).

Conclusion: The present observations lend further support to the hypothesis of a pivotal role of fibrinolysis in the early formation of adhesions, and open up new possibilities for adhesion reduction by inhibiting PAI-1.