Near-Infrared Imaging of Surgical Flaps

The groups were as follows: Control, CORM + GSNO, CCOD-GNs-4-MAP, Surgical delay, and CN-Patch (n = 6). Rats were anesthetized by isoflurane inhalation and the hairs on the back areas were shaved. Anesthetized rats were placed in a prone position and injected with IR-780@BSA probe (6 mM, 3 ml/kg) via tail vein^{51 (link),52 (link)}. All NIR-II images were obtained within 3 min after injection of the probe, using a two-dimensional InGaAs camera (Princeton Instruments, NIRvana-640). Images were collected with an 1100 nm long pass filter and 40 ms exposure time, under an 808 nm laser excitation (65 mW/cm²). To maximize image quality, each flap image was pieced together from three segments: anterior, mid, and posterior parts using ImageJ software (ImageJ v.1.52a) and Photoshop (Adobe, CC2018).