Medical Research>> Research Projects on the System of K-Channels>> Effect of the skin cut that is not covering the channels on the transport

EFFECT OF THE SKIN CUT THAT IS NOT COVERING THE CHANNELS ON THE TRANSPORT

Title.

Study of the effect of cutaneous incisions that do not affect the migration pathway on subcutaneous migration of the Tc-99m in form of pertechnetate of sodium throughout the K-Channels.

Background.

It is known that making cuts in the skin that covers the migration pathway prevents the transport of sodium pertechnetate (see page 35). The effect that the cut has on the neighboring skin not situated over the pathway has not been studied. If its cut did not have effect, it could suggest that there is some kind of wall that maintains the electrical isolation of the transport channel.

Objectives.

To evaluate the effect of cutaneous cuts that do not affect the migration pathway over the subcutaneous transport of the sodium pertechnetate.

Methodology.

80 male beagles between 18 and 36 months old were anesthetized and then injected with 200 to 250 mCi of Tc-99m in a point of low electrical resistance on the dorsal part of the metacarpus. Various kinds of experiments were made and the cutaneous cuts that did not intersect the migratory pathway of the Tc-99m were made before or after the injection of the Tc-99m and in the contralateral or ipsilateral extremity. In different experiments, the cuts were sutured both before and after the injection of Tc-99m. In no case did the cuts extend less than 1 cm from the pathway through which the isotope is transported.

Participants, along with the Foundation's Science Department.

Departments of Nuclear Medicine of the Hospital Clínico of Barcelona, de Morphological Sciences of the Central University of Barcelona (Medical School), and of Animal Surgery of the Autónomo University of Barcelona (Veterinary School).

Funded in full by the Kovacs Foundation.

Results.

Published in the journal European Radiology (Kovacs FM, García A, Mufraggi N, et al. Migration pathways of hypodermically injected technetium-99m in dogs. Eur-Radiol 2000;10:1019-1025).

To summarize, they indicate that the cut in the skin that does not intersect the pathway through which the isotope is transported has no effect on its migration. Transport occurs the same as in healthy skin, whether the cut is made before or after the injection and in the injected extremity or in the opposite side.

This could suggest that the flow of the isotope is surrounded by a wall that electrically isolates it from the rest of the subcutaneous environment. This would explain how when the skin in the area, but not that right above the migration pathway, is cut, the pathway continues electrically isolated despite the fact that the neighboring tissue has lost its isolation from the exterior. This fact would be compatible with the hypothesis posed by the research team, according to which the transport would be verified by means of a mechanism similar to that of capillary electrophoresis.