【Animal Modeling】-Miniature Pig Cleft Palate Model

  Cleft palate is a common congenital disease. At present, the repair of soft and hard tissue defects and the restoration of anatomical structure of cleft palate have become an important part of the treatment of cleft palate. Due to the special physiological and anatomical characteristics of the palate, the survival and reconstruction effect of the bone graft in the palate is not ideal. It is necessary to further study the technical methods to improve the survival rate and reconstruction effect through animal experiments.

  She Xiaoming and others established a cleft palate model using Guizhou miniature pigs. The experiment used Guizhou miniature pigs weighing 3.3 to 6.6 kg, 3.5 months old. After the animal is anesthetized, take the supine position with the head slightly above the operating table. After fixing the limbs with gauze strips, cross-fix the upper second incisors with gauze strips. After the operation area is disinfected with iodophor, drape the operation towel. Approximately 7ml of saline containing epinephrine was added to the operation area (the hard palate mucosa bulge can be seen after injection); an incision was made from the midline of the maxillary canine tooth to the soft palate back to the soft palate with a blade, and then the palatal mucoperiosteal flaps on both sides were turned up with a periosteal dissector (Be careful not to injure the great palatine nerve and blood vessel bundle); from the upper canine tooth distal palatine suture on both sides of the palatal bone horizontal plate to the rear intermittently punch, the connection is groove-shaped. Use an osteotome to cut the middle palatine bone along the groove, with a width of about 0.4~0.5cm; use a small scimitar to cut the nasal mucosa in the fissure forward from the soft palate, and cut the palatal mucosa and nasal mucosa on both sides of the defect while cutting Suture up so that the bone wound is wrapped between the two mucous membranes. After cutting the soft palate, it was sutured; after the operation, the fissure was in a "V" shape with the mouth and nose communicating. Give each pig an intramuscular injection of 1.6 million U of penicillin to prevent infection; a liquid diet and strengthen nutrition. The pig can hear cleft palate after being awake.

  Observation for 9 months after operation. The wound healed well after 15 days without infection, the bone surface was well wrapped, and the fissure remained intact. Animals have symptoms such as choking and cleft palate. Food can be seen spilling from the nasal cavity during a liquid diet.