With the goal of studying skin wound healing and testing new drug treatments to enhance wound healing in rodent models there is a clear need for improved splinting techniques to increase surgical efficiency and support routine wound monitoring. Splinted wound healing models humanize wound healing in rodents to prevent contraction and instead heal through granulation tissue deposition increasing the relevance to human wound healing. Current technologies require suturing and heavy wrapping leading to splint failure and cumbersome monitoring of the wound. Here we developed a splint with resealable cap system that provides ease of access for wound inspection therapeutic treatment delivery and routine wound imaging without the need unwrap and wrap the animal. Meanwhile to overcome the challenges associated with suturing we also developed adherent splints that can be applied to both hairless or haired mice with minimal wrapping. Both technologies are expected to improve and encourage the adoption of splinted wound healing models.
