Growth inhibition of cultured smooth muscle cells by corrosion products of 316 L stainless steel wire

Abstract

The potential cytotoxicity on vascular smooth muscle cells of corrosion products from 316 L stainless steel, one of most popular biomaterials of intravascular stents, has not been highlighted. In this investigation, 316 L stainless steel wires were corroded in Dulbecco's modified eagle's medium with applied constant electrochemical breakdown voltage, and the supernatant and precipitates of corrosion products were prepared as culture media. The effects of different concentrations of corrosion products on the growth of rat aortic smooth muscle cells were conducted with the [3H]-thymidine uptake test and cell cycle sorter. Both the supernatant and precipitates of corrosion products were toxic to the primary culture of smooth muscle cells. The growth inhibition was correlated well with the increased nickel ions in the corrosion products when nickel concentration was above 11.7 ppm. The corrosion products also changed cell morphology and induced cell necrosis. The cell growth inhibition occurred at the G0/G1 to S transition phase. Similar to our recent study of nitinol stent wire, the present investigation also demonstrated the cytotoxicity of corrosion products of 316 L stainless steel stent wire on smooth muscle cells, which might affect the poststenting vascular response.

Stainless and shape memory alloy coronary stents: a computational study on the interaction with the vascular wall

“…CAD models of Palmaz-Schatz stents (SS stent) with different values of metal-to-artery ratio expansion, lower bending stresses when deployed in tortuous vessels and the elimination, after balloon deflation, of high radial dimension reduction due to the stent elastic deformation recovery (Carter et al 1998). Moreover, SMA, and in particular NiTi alloys, seem to have a better biocompatibility and corrosion resistance than AISI 316L (Trepanier 1999;Shih 2001;Thierry 2002). Some clinical studies (Han et al 2001;Kobayashi et al 2001;Taylor et al 2001, Virmani 2002 compare NiTi alloy and stainless steel stent performance suggesting that NiTi stents, designed to allow continued expansion of the stent, induce positive remodeling of the artery, favor the long-term lumen patency and reduce the restenosis.…”

Electrochemical polishing as a 316L stainless steel surface treatment method: Towards the improvement of biocompatibility

“…The corrosion of 316L-SS stents causes the release of cytotoxic constituents such as nickel and chromium ions [50,51]. It was previously shown that these potentially toxic compounds are stocked in the tissues surrounding the stent and can migrate through the blood, to be accumulated in vital organs such as kidney, spleen and liver [2,[52][53][54].…”

“…It was previously shown that these potentially toxic compounds are stocked in the tissues surrounding the stent and can migrate through the blood, to be accumulated in vital organs such as kidney, spleen and liver [2,[52][53][54]. In addition, Shih et al reported that the corrosion products can even alter the rat aortic SMC morphology [50].…”

Electrochemical characterization of vascular bare-metal stents. A novel approach modifying the mini-cell system

“…Ion release potentially provides proinflammatory, cytotoxic or fibro-proliferative stimuli. Furthermore, allergenic, carcinogenic or toxic effects, especially of nickel ions, have been frequently discussed [9,[34][35][36]. Corrosion has furthermore been described as a contributor to stent fracture in the periphery [37].…”