This protocol describes harvesting, suturing, and monitoring fasciocutaneous flaps in rats that allow for good visualization and manipulation of blood flow through the superficial inferior epigastric vessels by means of clamping and ligating the femoral vessels. This is critical for studies involving ischemic preconditioning.
Berkane, Y., Alana Shamlou, A., Reyes, J., Lancia, H. H., Filz von Reiterdank, I., Bertheuil, N., Uygun, B. E., Uygun, K., Austen Jr., W. G., Cetrulo Jr., C. L., Randolph, M. A., Lellouch, A. G. The Superficial Inferior Epigastric Artery Axial Flap to Study Ischemic Preconditioning Effects in a Rat Model. J. Vis. Exp. (191), e64980, doi:10.3791/64980 (2023).