Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Erciyes Tip Dergisi, cilt.25, sa.2, ss.78-85, 2003 (SCI-Expanded)
Purpose: To be able to cut skin precisely while performing mechanical tests in experiments, skin is frequently frozen beforehand. However, changes in native properties of skin after freezing have rarely been reported in the literature. We aimed to develop a new regular (smooth) fresh skin cutting method which does not necessitate any preceding freezing procedure. Material and methods: The main feature of this method is to prevent slipping of fresh skin by stabilizing the skin between two sandpaper covered surfaces. In the first part of this study, to determine the accuracy of this method, widths of skin bands were prepared using the defined device and scissors compared to evaluate the regularity of the skin bands. In the second part of the study, the mechanical test results of stored skin samples frozen at - 25 °C temperature overnight were compared with fresh skin samples. Results: Variation in width measurements of skin bands which were prepared by the new technique was smaller than that prepared by scissors; when frozen and freshly prepared samples were compared, there was a statistically significant difference between the elongation ratio and tensile forces of two samples prepared according to two different methods (p<0.05). Conclusion: Skin strips can be prepared more regularly with our novel device when compared to those prepared by the scissors. We do not recommend freezing since it causes changes in physical properties of the skin.