New Coating Method for Sustained Drug Release: Surface Modification of ePTFE Grafts by inner coating PLGA

摘要

Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) grafts have been used as vascular access for many patients suffering from end stage renal disease. However, the vascular graft can cause significant clinical problems such as stenosis or thrombosis. For this reason, many studies have been performed to make drug eluting graft, but initial burst is major problem in almost drug eluting systems. Therefore we used biodegradable polymer to reduce initial burst and make sustained drug delivery. The ePTFE grafts were dipped into a paclitaxel-dissolved solution and then PLGA-dissolved solution was passed through the lumen of ePTFE. We analyzed whether the dose of paclitaxel is enough and the loading amount of PLGA on ePTFE graft increases according to the coating solution’s concentration. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of various concentration of PLGA showed that the porous surface of graft was more packed with PLGA by tetrahydrofuran solution dissolved PLGA. In addition, in vitro release profiles of Ptx-PLGA graft demonstrated that early burst was gradually decreased as increasing the concentration of PLGA. These results suggest that PLGA coating of Ptx loaded graft can retard drug release, it is useful tool to control drug release of medical devices.