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Poor compatibility between blood and metallic coronary artery stents is one reason for arterial restenosis; however, the immobilization of anticoagulant agents on the surface of the stent is a feasible method of improving stent compatibility. Heparin, a well-known anticoagulant, has been frequently used to coat the surfaces of certain biomaterials to attain blood compatibility. The compound 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl-aminopropyl) carbodiimide has often been utilized for the immobilization of heparin, but the critical carboxyl groups of heparin (with regards to heparin's anticoagulant activity) will be reduced by this method. This study examined possible methods of heparin immobilization without consuming these carboxyl groups. The 316L stainless steel surface was first activated with hexamethylene diisocyanate and then coupled with bis-amine-terminated poly (ethylene glycol) (BA-PEG) so as to create active amine groups. Sodium periodate (NaIO(4); SP) was then used to oxidize heparin to form aldehyde groups. The treated heparin could then be grafted onto the activated surface of the test material without losing its carboxyl groups. Effective surface modification of the hexamethylene diisocyanate-activated and BA-PEG-grafted 316L SS surface was confirmed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis and a water contact angle test. After the heparin was immobilized on the BA-PEG-grafted 316L SS surface by SP, the surface showed an improvement in antithrombrin III (AT III) binding ability, its anticoagulant property, and hemocompatibility in comparison with heparin grafted by 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl-aminopropyl) carbodiimide.

Poor compatibility between blood and metallic coronary artery stents is one reason for arterial restenosis. Immobilization of anticoagulant agents on the stent's surface is feasible for improving compatibility. We examined possible surface-coupling agents for anticoagulant agent immobilization. Hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI) and 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane (APTS) were examined as surface-coupling agents to activate 316L stainless steel (e.g., stent material). The activated surface was characterized using Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscope (AFM), surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) assay. In FTIR analysis, HMDI and APTS were both covalently linked to 316L stainless steel. In AFM analysis, it was found that the HMDI-activated surface was smoother than the APTS-activated one. In SPR test, the shift of SPR angle for the APTS-activated surface was much higher than that for the HMDI-activated surface after being challenged with acidic solution. TNBS assay was used to determine the amount of immobilized primary amine groups. The HMDI-activated surface was found to consist of about 1.32 micromol/cm(2) amine group, whereas the APTS-activated surface consisted of only 0.89 micromol/cm(2) amine group. We conclude that the HMDI-activated surface has more desirable surface characteristics than the APTS-activated surface has, such as chemical stability and the amount of active amine groups.

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