RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 107 Enhanced endothelial cell coverage on graphene coated stents JF Heart JO Heart FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Cardiovascular Society SP A84 OP A85 DO 10.1136/heartjnl-2018-BCS.106 VO 104 IS Suppl 6 A1 Fatemeh Jafarzadeh A1 Daryl McManus A1 Irina Barbolina A1 Kostas Kostarelos A1 Nadim Malik A1 Cinzia Casiraghi A1 Cathy M Holt YR 2018 UL http://heart.bmj.com/content/104/Suppl_6/A84.2.abstract AB Introduction Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Stent implantation is performed widely to revascularise stenosed coronary arteries. Restenosis is a significant complication associated with bare metal stents (BMS). Drug eluting stents with adjunct anti-platelet therapy significantly improved restenosis risk but introduced late in stent thrombosis. Therefore, there remains a need for more effective coronary artery stents and the aim of this study is to improve currently available BMSs. Graphene is a 2D material consisting of a layer of hexagonal structured carbon atoms, exhibiting unique properties, ideal for implantable device coatings: it forms an impermeable membrane, is atomically smooth and has a Daruyhigh surface to volume ratio.We have coated currently available BMSs with graphene-based materials to enhance re-endothelialisation and hinder the formation of intimal hyperplasia resulting from possible aetiologies such as metal leaching or inflammatory reaction to the metal itself.Methods Graphene-based bare metal stent coatings were optimised by investigating several coating methods. Human coronary artery endothelial cells (HCAECs) were cultured on control and coated stents. Cells were fixed at day 0 and day 8 post-seeding, followed by Hoechst 33 342 and Phalloidin staining for viewing under the fluorescence microscope. Subsequently, HCAEC number per mm2 area of stent was determined at both day 0 and day 8, and the difference calculated. One-Way ANOVA with multiple comparison was performed and p<0.05 considered as statistically significance. Results are shown as mean± SEM.Results A spray coating method was selected for providing optimal coverage of graphene-based coating on BMSs. HCAEC count/mm2 was significantly more on the Graphene-based coating of the bare metal stent (1085±156 HCAEC count/mm2) compared to the uncoated control bare metal stent (486±130 HCAEC count/mm2) p=0.0063, n=3.Conclusion An optimised prototype of graphene-based BMS coating was produced for preclinical evaluation. Increased HCAEC count per mm2 of graphene-based coated BMS was observed in comparison to the uncoated bare metal stents. These data provide the first indication of the potential feasibility of graphene-based materials as coatings on implantable coronary artery stents.