Objectives: This study sought to investigate endothelial coverage and barrier protein expression following stent implantation.
Background: Biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stents (BP-DES) have been purported to have biological advantages in vessel healing versus durable polymer DES (DP-DES), although clinical trial data suggest equipoise.
Methods: Biodegradable polymer-sirolimus-eluting stents (BP-SES), durable polymer-everolimus-eluting stents (DP-EES), and bare-metal stents (BMS) were compared. In the rabbit model (28, 45, and 120 days), stented arteries underwent light microscopic analysis and immunostaining for the presence of vascular endothelium (VE)-cadherin, an endothelial barrier protein, and were subjected to confocal microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. A cell culture study in stented silicone tubes was performed to assess cell proliferation.
Results: Light microscopic assessments were similar between BP-SES and DP-EES. BMS showed nearly complete expression of VE-cadherin at 28 days, whereas both DES showed significantly less with results favoring BP-SES versus DP-EES (39% coverage in BP-SES, 22% in DP-EES, 95% in BMS). Endothelial cell morphologic patterns differed according to stent type with BMS showing a spindle-like shape, DP-EES a cobblestone pattern, and BP-SES a shape in between. VE-cadherin-negative areas showed greater surface monocytes regardless of type of stent. Cell proliferation was suppressed in both DES with numerically less suppression in BP-SES versus DP-EES.
Conclusions: This is the first study to examine VE-cadherin expression after DES. All DES demonstrated deficient barrier expression relative to BMS with results favoring BP-SES versus DP-EES. These findings may have important implications for the development of neoatherosclerosis in different stent types.
Keywords: VE-cadherin; biodegradable polymer; drug-eluting stent(s); durable polymer; endothelium.
Copyright © 2017 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.