A new stent with streamlined cross-section can suppress monocyte cell adhesion in the flow disturbance zones of the endovascular stent

Abstract

We proposed a new stent with streamlined cross-sectional wires, which is different from the clinical coronary stents with square or round cross-sections. We believe the new stent might have better hemodynamic performance than the clinical metal stents. To test the hypothesis, we designed an experimental study to compare the performance of the new stent with the clinical stents in terms of monocyte (U-937 cells) adhesion. The results showed that when compared with the clinical stents, the adhesion of U-937 cells were much less in the new stent. The results also showed that, when Reynolds number increased from 180 (the rest condition for the coronary arteries) to 360 (the strenuous exercise condition for the coronary arteries), the flow disturbance zones in the clinical stents became larger, while they became smaller with the new stent. The present experimental study therefore suggests that the optimization of the cross-sectional shape of stent wires ought to be taken into consideration in the design of endovascular stents.

Keywords::

• restenosis
• streamlined cross-section
• monocytes
• adhesion
• endovascular stent

Notes

^1. Both authors contributed equally to this work.

Additional information

Funding

The project was supported by grants in aid from the National Science Foundation of China [31170904, 11072023, 11172156, 30970822 and 11202016], the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project [grant no. 2012M510021] and the Special Financial Grant from the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [grant no. 2013T60105].Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this article.