Study of urological devices coated with fullerene-like nanoparticles

Abstract

Insertion of endoscopes and other medical devices into the human body are ubiquitous, especially among aged males. The applied force for the insertion/extraction of the device from the urethra must overcome endoscope-surface-human-tissue interactions. In daily practice a gel is applied on the endoscope surface, in order to facilitate its entry into the urethra, providing also for local anesthesia. In the present work, a new solid-state lubricant has been added to the gel, in order to reduce the metal-urethra interaction and alleviate the potential damage to the epithelial tissue. For that purpose, a urethra model was designed and fabricated, which allowed a quantitative assessment of the applied force for extraction of the endoscope from a soft polymer-based ring. It is shown that the addition of MoS2 nanoparticles with fullerene-like structure (IF-MoS2) and in particular rhenium-doped nanoparticles (Re:IF-MoS2) to Esracain gel applied on the metal-lead reduced the friction substantially. The Re:IF-MoS2 showed better results than the undoped fullerene-like nanoparticles and both performed better than the gel alone. The mechanism of friction reduction is attributed to fullerenes' ability to roll and act as a separator between the active parts of the model.

Nanocomposite of Poly(l-Lactic Acid) with Inorganic Nanotubes of WS2

“…Furthermore, the addition of the nanotubes to different gels [32,33] and polymer matrices [34] in small amounts leads to a precipitous reduction in the friction forces, which may have important ramifications on numerous medical and other technologies. Equally important is the fact that several studies have indicated that IF/INT of WS 2 (MoS 2 ) are non-toxic and biocompatible [34][35][36][37][38].…”

A review of the bio-tribology of medical devices

“…13. Goldbart et al [175,176] demonstrated that the addition of small amounts of MoS 2 nanoparticles improved the performance of a commercial lubrication gel, reduced the metal-urethra interaction, and alleviated the potential damage to the epithelial tissue. Thiong'o et al [177] found that the perforations could not be related to shunt catheter stiffness but may be related to greater frictional forces associated with chronic contact of the distal catheter with the intestine.…”

Optimal lubricants for urological practice

“…В последнее десятилетие особенно активно развивается направление по созданию материалов с антисептическими наночастицами. Это и давно зарекомендовавшие себя частицы Ag в составе нанокомпозитов, например на основе тетрафторэтилена (тефлона) [66], и частицы ZnO, например стабилизированные аминированным полифениленсульфидом [67], и фуллереноподобные наночастицы MoS 2 [68], в частности допированные рением [69]. Безусловно, эти же частицы могут быть стабилизированы в составе рутинного урологического лубриканта.…”