311 Intraperitoneal cytostatic-loaded supramolecular hydrogel and intestinal anastomotic healing CONCLUSIONS In this rodent model, we demonstrated the influence of an intraperitoneal injectable cytostatic (MMC) loaded hydrogel (UPy–PEG) on colon anastomoses. Although our preliminary results suggest that intraperitoneal administration of the hydrogel with or without MMC does not affect anastomotic healing based on the anastomotic adhesion and leakage score, bursting pressure and microscopic evaluation, we must conclude that injection of both unloaded and MMC-loaded hydrogel under the studied conditions is not safe in the current rodent model for colorectal anastomotic surgery because of the high number of rats which were prematurely sacrificed due to intestinal blood loss. This warrants future experiments to optimize the hydrogel for use in combination with colorectal surgery. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND STATEMENTS The authors would like to thank all people from the animal facility for contributing to this project. We would also like to express our gratitude to Bjorn Winkens, who was involved as a professional statistician to ensure an appropriate statistical analysis. The authors acknowledge the funding of the Dutch Cancer Society (project number 12055) and the support of the partners of Regenerative Medicine Crossing Borders (RegMed XB), powered by Health~Holland, Top Sector Life Sciences & Health and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science for the Gravitation Programs (024.003.013 and 024.005.020). This animal study was performed at the animal center of Maastricht University (Maastricht, The Netherlands). The experimental protocol followed the Dutch Animal Experimental Act and was approved by the Animal Experimental Committee of Maastricht University Medical Center (project license AVD1070020198765). 13
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw