Mutual influence of incorporated drugs in a dual drug delivery coating for cardiovascular applications

Abstract

For a long-term efficient drug-eluting stent for vascular applications, the development of drug-loaded coating, combining the effective inhibition of smooth muscle cell proliferation while promoting the re-endothelialization, is a promising concept. However the mostly required simultaneous incorporation of drugs can influence decisively the stability, efficacy and release of the respective drug. Therefore, the mutual influence of a dual local drug delivery coatings based on poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone) (PLLA-co-CL) containing vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF165) coupled to the surface and an embedded drug, such as fluorescein diacetate (FDAc) instead of Paclitaxel (PTX) on the in vitro drug release was investigated. Surprisingly, for the investigated coating the immobilized VEGF loading was enhanced and the release profile was accelerated by FDAc incorporation. Even a manifold increase for the in vitro released amounts of VEGF was detected. In contrast, the immobilization of VEGF seems to have a negligible influence on the in vitro FDAc release profiles.

Keywords

• drug-eluting stent
• plla
• fdac
• vegf