Hemocompatibility of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) coated Mg-RE and Mg-Zn-Ca alloys for vascular scaffold applications.

Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty and subsequent vascular scaffold implantation remains the prevalent invasive treatment of coronary heart disease. In-stent restenosis remained a problem with bare metal stents, until drug-eluting stents were introduced. The inhibition of the healing process by the antimitotic drug coating and the permanent metallic remnant can promote sub-acute and delayed stent thrombosis. Thus, the development of biodegradable stents emerged as a subject of research. Magnesium-based bioabsorbable devices can provide sufficient radial force in the acute phase of vessel-treatment and degrade thoroughly in aqueous environment, making them potential new candidates for vascular scaffold applications. Magnesium alloys tend to degrade very quickly due to their high electrochemical corrosion potential. Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation modification of magnesium alloys improves interface and degradadation properties and may therefore enhance the performance and suitability for vascular scaffold applications of these materials. Assuring the hemocompatibility and foremost assessing the thrombogenicity of new biomaterials prior to their use is essential in order to avoid adverse effects. The goal was to assess thrombocyte adhesion on coated Mg-RE and Mg-Zn-Ca alloys. Static experiments with human blood were carried out on the plasma-electrolytically treated or corresponding untreated Mg alloy in order to assess quantity and quality of thrombocyte adhesion via standardized SEM imaging. In a second step, a parallel plate flow chamber was designed in order to examine thrombocyte adhesion under dynamic flow conditions. During flow chamber experiments the test-materials were exposed to human thrombocyte concentrate and the number of adherent thrombocytes was assessed. The flow chamber was additionally perfused with human blood and thrombocyte adhesion was semiquantitatively and qualitatively assessed via SEM imaging and subsequent scoring. In conclusion, a new parallel plate flow chamber design simulating blood-circulation was successfully established, enabling the further assessment of platelet adhesion on bioabsorbable materials under dynamic flow conditions. Static and dynamic experiments showed, that plasma-electrolytically treated specimens showed low thrombocyte adhesion on both alloys, proposing their potential use in vascular scaffolds. The uncoated magnesium alloys showed rapid degradation along with gas formation due to the chemically active surface and therefore give concern regarding their safety and suitability for vascular applications.