[Preparation and anticoagulation of curcumin/poly(lactic acid-co-glycol acid) composite films]

In-stent restenosis is the major problem in clinical application of coronary stent. Drug-eluting stent became a landmark in the treatment of coronary disease. However, thrombosis is still a problem of drug-eluting stent. There has been clinical report indicating that thrombosis sometimes is induced by drug-eluting stent implantation in late stage. Curcumin could be used for drug-eluting stent due to its antithrombogenity and antiproliferative properties. In this paper, three weight percent curcumin-loaded films (3wt%, 5wt%, 8wt%) were prepared using a biodegradable polymer (poly (lactic acid-co-glycol acid), PLGA) as the carrier of curcumin. The component of curcumin-loaded film was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and the major peaks of curcumin and PLGA were both observed in the composite film. The result of in vitro platelet adhesion test shows that the number of adhered platelet reduces, and few aggregated and activated platelets are observed. For all composite films, activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) increases. The results indicate that the curcumin-loaded films have better anticoagulative effect when compared with PLGA. In addition, all anticoagulation tests indicate "the higher the drug content in the film, the better the anticoagulative effect".