Study of functional drug-eluting stent in promoting endothelialization and antiproliferation

Abstract

Drug-eluting stents have been widely used in the clinic because of their impressive ability to reduce restenosis. However, the conventional biodegradable polymers used for drug-loaded coatings undergo bulk erosion, which can induce internal catalysis, resulting in a high local acidity during the degradation process and unfavorable side-effects. Herein, poly(1,3-trimethylene carbonate), a surface eroding biodegradable polymer, was chosen as a drug-loaded coating for cardiovascular stents. We modified both sides of the stent to simultaneously promote re-endothelialization at the inner layer and reduce restenosis at the outer layer, using a titanium oxide (Ti-O) film as the inner layer and a Ti-O film/drug coating as the outer layer. In vitro and in vivo results indicated that the Ti-O film accelerated endothelial cell growth and re-endothelialization, and the drug coating inhibited platelet adhesion, activation, and aggregation, smooth muscle cell proliferation, and significantly reduced neointimal hyperplasia. Therefore, this novel stent may have potential as a cardiovascular stent to treat patients with coronary artery stenosis.

Keywords:

• Drug-eluting stents
• poly(1,3-trimethylene carbonate)
• tacrolimus
• smooth muscle cells
• endothelial cells

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 81330031, 81471797, and 81701790), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant no. 2017YFB0702504), Major Project of 2025 Sci&Tech Innovation (Grant no. 2018B10052), Ningbo Health Branding Subject Fund (Grant no. PPXK2018-02), Ningbo University Funds (Grant nos. XYL19022, 2019SRIP1905, 2019SRIP1918, and 2019SRIP1931) and Open Research Funds of Fudan University (Grant no. K2019-08). This work was also sponsored by K.C. Wang Magna/Education Fund of Ningbo University.