Promoting vascular healing using nanofibrous ticagrelor-eluting stents

The current treatment of atherosclerotic coronary heart disease with limus-eluting stents can lead to incomplete endothelialization and substantial impairment of arterial healing relative to treatment with bare-metal stents. The sustained and local delivery of ticagrelor, a reversibly binding P2Y12 receptor inhibitor, using hybrid biodegradable nanofibers/stents, was developed to reduce neointimal formation and endothelial dysfunction. In this investigation, a solution of ticagrelor, poly(D,L)-lactide-co-glycolide, and hexafluoro isopropanol was electrospun to fabricate ticagrelor-eluting nanofibrous drug-eluting stents. The in vitro and in vivo ticagrelor concentrations were measured using a high-performance liquid chromatography assay. The effectiveness of ticagrelor-eluting stents was examined relative to that of sirolimus-eluting stents. Adequate ticagrelor levels were detected for four weeks in vitro. Less HES5-positive labeling was found near the ticagrelor-eluting stented vessels (0.33±0.12) than close to the sirolimus-eluting stented vessels (0.57±0.15) (