Development of polymeric coating material for effective drug-eluting stent

For the preparation of effective non-vascular drug eluting stent (DES), pullulan acetate (PA) was investigated as a coating material for polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) -covered stent. PA was coated on PTFE-covered stent (PTFE-stent) by dip coating technique, and then its surface morphology, drug release behavior and cellular toxicity were tested. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) result indicated that its surface was smoother after PA coating without any cracking. The sustained release behavior of paclitaxel from PA-coated PTFE membrane was observed for 80 days. Also, the biological stability of paclitaxel in the membrane was confirmed by annexin V binding assays. Furthermore, the antitumor activity was demonstrated by an in vivo test against CT-26 murine colorectal tumors. From the results, we concluded that PA was expected as a useful coating material to design an effective non-vascular DES.