Anti-inflammatory and antihyperplasia activities are essential requirements for the successful use of airway
stents. In this work,
silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and
cisplatin (DDP) were combined in a synergistic modification strategy to improve the surface function of airway
stents. Using
polycaprolactone (PCL) as a
drug carrier, a dual-functional PCL-AgNPs-DDP fiber film-coated airway
stent was fabricated by electrospinning. The physicochemical and
biological properties of the obtained fiber films were examined. The ATR-FTIR, XPS, SEM-EDS and TEM results suggested that AgNPs and DDP could be successfully immobilized onto the airway
stent surface. The drug release and surface degradation results revealed that AgNPs and DDP can undergo sustained release from films for 30 d, and the
weight loss was approximately 50% after 35 d. In addition, the dual-functional fiber film suppressed human embryonic lung fibroblast growth and exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the dual-functional fiber film-coated airway
stent was evaluated by application to the trachea of New Zealand rabbits. The in vivo results indicated that PCL-AgNPs-DDP fiber film-coated airway
stent can significantly inhibit granulation tissue formation and
collagen deposition, reduced the expression of
IL-8, TNF-α, IL-1α,
PCNA, α-SMA and CD68, and ultimately achieved anti-inflammatory and antihyperplasia effects. Hence, this study provides a dual-functional surface-coated airway
stent to address the clinical complications associated with respiratory tract
inflammation and granulation tissue
hyperplasia, thus inhibiting
tracheal stenosis.