Fabrication of Small Caliber Stent-grafts Using Electrospinning and Balloon Expandable Bare Metal Stents

Summary

In the protocol, we present a method to manufacture a small caliber stent-graft by sandwiching a balloon expandable stent between two electrospun nanofibrous polyurethane layers.

Abstract

Stent-grafts are widely used for the treatment of various conditions such as aortic lesions, aneurysms, emboli due to coronary intervention procedures and perforations in vasculature. Such stent-grafts are manufactured by covering a stent with a polymer membrane. An ideal stent-graft should have a biocompatible stent covered by a porous, thromboresistant, and biocompatible polymer membrane which mimics the extracellular matrix thereby promoting injury site healing. The goal of this protocol is to manufacture a small caliber stent-graft by encapsulating a balloon expandable stent within two layers of electrospun polyurethane nanofibers. Electrospinning of polyurethane has been shown to assist in healing by mimicking native extracellular matrix, thereby promoting endothelialization. Electrospinning polyurethane nanofibers on a slowly rotating mandrel enabled us to precisely control the thickness of the nanofibrous membrane, which is essential to achieve a small caliber balloon expandable stent-graft. Mechanical validation by crimping and expansion of the stent-graft has shown that the nanofibrous polyurethane membrane is sufficiently flexible to crimp and expand while staying patent without showing any signs of tearing or delamination. Furthermore, stent-grafts fabricated using the methods described here are capable of being implanted using a coronary intervention procedure using standard size guide catheters.

Introduction

Coronary intervention procedures cause significant vessel wall injury due to disruption of the plaque and vessel wall. This results in restenosis, peripheral embolism in vein grafts, and discontinuity of coronary lumen^1-4. To avoid these complications, a promising strategy will be to cover the vascular surface in the angioplasty site, which will potentially inhibit restenosis, mitigate risks from discontinuity of vessel lumen, and prevent peripheral embolism. Previous studies have compared bare metal stents to stent-grafts with positive outcomes for stent-grafts⁵. Researchers have used several materials to manufacture membranes to cover the stent....

Protocol

1. Electrospinning of Polyurethane on Mandrel Collector

1. Prepare mandrel for electrospinning
   1. Melt approximately 8 ml of biocompatible, food-grade, water soluble support material in a graduated cylinder (approximately 9 mm diameter and 110 mm deep) at 155 °C using an oven.
   2. Dip a 3 mm diameter and 100 mm long stainless steel mandrel to obtain a coating of support material on the surface of the mandrel. Prior to dipping, place the mandrels in the oven at 155 °C for approximately 15 min to raise the temperature of the mandrel surface which helps in wetting the surface with the molten support material.

Results

Our electrospinner setup (Figure 1) has resulted in high quality polyurethane nanofibers (Figure 2). A stent-graft is manufactured by electrospinning an inner layer of polyurethane onto a mandrel, slipping a bare metal stent over this layer, and electrospinning a second outer layer of polyurethane (Figure 3). Polyurethane nanofibers are electrospun at the rate of 50 µm/hr, which results in an inner layer of 100 µm and an outer layer of 150 µm on the stent-.......

Discussion

We have developed a fabrication technique for a small caliber stent-graft which can be deployed using a standard percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedure. Stent-grafts currently available are limited in their ability to maintain a low profile and flexibility for deployment. Bare metal stents developed by our group in our previous studies have proven to assist in rapid healing of the stented artery^24,26. Various polymers have been electrospun by other groups and polyurethane has been proven biostable .......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Glass syringe	Air Tite	7.140-33	Syringe for spinneret
Graduated cylinder 5 mL	Fisher Scientific	08-552-4G	5 mL pyrex graduated cylinder about 9mm diameter and 11 cm long
High voltage generator	Bertan Accociates, Inc.	205A-30P	Used to apply voltage difference across spinneret and collector
Laboratory mixer with rpm control	Scilogex	SCI-84010201	Available from various laboratory equipment suppliers
Polyurethane	DSM	BioSpan SPU	Biospan Segmented Polyurethane
Rubber sheet	McMaster Carr	1370N11	Used to insulate syringe during electrospinning
Stainless steel mandrel	N/A	N/A	Manufactured
Stainless steel needle	Hamilton	91018	Used as spinneret in electrospinning
Support material	EnvisionTec	B04-HT-DEMOMAT	Biocompatible water soluble material
Syringe Pump	Harvard Apparatus	55-3333