Injection Molding of Degradable Nanofibrous Stent

This proposal aims to design and fabricate a new mesh-type bioresorbable stent using injection molding and electrospinning techniques. Despite metallic and silicone stents being effective in treating various airway lesions, many concerns still remain. A bioresorbable stent that scaffolds the airway lumen and dissolves after the remodeling process is completed has advantages over metallic and silicone stents. The research projects will consist of three parts and be completed in three years. 1) The first part (first year) is to develop biodegradable stents by injection molding technology. Biodegradable stents will be fabricated by a lab-made micro injection-molding machine. Characterization of the stents, including compression strength, collapse pressure, degradation rate, DSC, TGA analysis etc., will be tested and compared to that of commercial silicone stents. 2) The second year of the research aims to develop anti-inflammatory drug-eluting stents. A spray coating and an electrospinning technology will be employed to coated PLGA/dexamethasone onto the surfaces of biodegradable stents. The in vitro release behavior of dexamethasone from the stents will be characterized by using an elution method and a HPLC analysis. In addition, the influence of various processing conditions on the release behavior will be investigated. 3) The final part (the third year) is to design and fabricate anti-cancer drug-eluting stents. Anti-cancer drug-cisplatin will be employed. The in vitro release of the drugs will be analyzed. The influence of spray coating and electrospinning on the release behavior of the drugs will be examined. In addition, the effects of various processing parameters, including PLGA/drug ratio, spray speed of spay-coating, morphology of nanofibers etc., on the drug release characteristics will be investigated.

Project ID:PB10501-3716
External Project ID:MOST104-2221-E182-048-MY3