Tellurium-containing polymer coating with glutathione peroxidase mimics capability for surface modification of intravascular implants

Abstract

Interventional therapy as an effective method has saved millions of lives of human, in which the interventional devices (e.g. central venous catheters, vascular stent, etc.) play a crucial role. However, undesirable implantation responses including thrombus formation, inflammation, and hyperplasia is still the life-threatening to the patients. In this study, a novel tellurium-functionalized polycarbonate-polyurethane (PCU-TeTe) was designed and synthesized by introducing ditelluride bonds (Te-Te) into the molecular structure of polymer. The developed PCU-TeTe showed an excellent catalytic activity in the nitric oxide (NO) release with a rate of 2.8 × 10-10 mol·cm−2·min−1, hence has multiple advanced functions in the blood environment. Both in vitro and ex vivo results of hemocompatibility showed that PCU-TeTe could substantially reduce the probability of thrombogenesis. Besides, PCU-TeTe could significantly promote endothelial cell (EC) proliferation while suppress the growth of smooth muscle cell (SMC) and macrophage (MA). Moreover, the in vivo results including qualitative and quantitative date (e.g. abdominal aorta hyperplasia) demonstrated that PCU-TeTe could not only promote healthy endothelialization, but also inhibit thrombus, inflammation and hyperplasia. Such tellurium-functionalized system could be a promising strategy for the design and fabrication of vascular materials or implants, especially for blood-contacting devices in the future.