Zinc (Zn) has emerged as a promising
bioresorbable stent material
because of its satisfactory corrosion behavior and excellent biocompatibility.
However, for load-bearing implant applications, alloying is required
to boost its mechanical properties as pure Zn exhibits poor strength.
Unfortunately, an increase in inflammation relative to pure Zn is
a commonly observed side effect of Zn alloys. Consequently, the development
of a Zn-based alloy that can simultaneously feature improved mechanical
properties and suppress inflammatory responses is a big challenge.
Here, a bioresorbable, biocompatible Zn–Ag-based quinary alloy
was comprehensively evaluated in vivo, in comparison to reference
materials. The inflammatory and smooth muscle cellular response was
characterized and correlated to metrics of neointimal (NI) growth.
We found that implantation of the quinary alloy was associated with
significantly improved inflammatory activities relative to the reference
materials. Additionally, we found that inflammation, but not smooth
muscle cell hyperplasia, significantly correlates to NI growth for
Zn alloys. The results suggest that inflammation is the main driver
of NI growth for Zn-based alloys and that the quinary Zn–Ag–Mn–Zr–Cu
alloy may impart inflammation-resistance properties to arterial implants.
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