Figure 1.

Liraglutide increases the survival rate of random flaps, reduces tissue oedema, and stimulates angiogenesis in flaps. (a) Images of the degree of flap necrosis in the control and LIR groups on the 3rd and 7th days after surgery (scale bar: 0.5 cm). (b) Histogram of the survival area percentage of the flaps on day 7 after surgery. (c) Laser Doppler blood flow scanning (scale bar: 0.5 cm) on the 7th day after surgery. (d) Histogram showing the intensity of the blood flow signal. (e) Haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining shows blood vessels in area II of skin flaps in each group (magnification: 200x; scale bar: 50 μm). (f) Histogram of the mean vascular density (MVD) quantified from the H&E images. (g) Images of tissue oedema in each group on the 7th day after surgery (scale bar: 0.5 cm). (h) Histogram of the water content percentage of each tissue. (i, m, and q) Immunohistochemistry analysis of CD34-positive blood vessels and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and cadherin 5 protein in flap area II for each group (magnification: 200x; scale bar: 50 μm). (j, n, and r) Histogram of CD34-positive blood vessel density and the optical density values of VEGF and cadherin 5 from the immunohistochemistry results. (k, o, and s) Western blotting was used to detect the expression of VEGF, cadherin 5, and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) in the control and LIR groups. (l, p, and t) ImageJ was used to quantitatively analyse the optical density values of VEGF, cadherin 5, and MMP9 in each flap group. The data are presented as the means ± standard error, n = 6 for each group. ^∗p < 0.05 and ^∗∗p < 0.01.