Anticoagulation and antibacterial functional coating on vascular implant interventional medical catheter

Vascular implant interventional medical catheter will contact with blood firstly after implantation. The anticoagulation and antibacterial functions of this device will determine the success or failure. Copper (Cu) has been verified to possess multi-biofunctions, but it was challenging to add the Cu metal to most materials. Take advantage of its functionality; Cu has been grafted on the material surface to improve the anticoagulation function and accelerate endothelialization. In this study, a Cu-bearing chitosan coating was prepared on the catheter to endow the anticoagulation and anti-infection functions. Besides, properties characterization and functional evaluation of the coated medical catheter were investigated. Dynamic blood clotting and platelet adhesion tests were carried out to evaluate the anticoagulation property. Besides this, the antibacterial test was used to estimate the anti-infection function. The surface energy and Cu ions release from the coating were detected and calculated by contact angles and immersion tests, respectively. The results of attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that Cu ions were grafted in the chitosan coating. Thermogravimetric analysis (TA) result showed the concentration of Cu ions in the coating. The results of dynamic blood clotting, platelet adhesion, and antibacterial tests revealed that Cu grafted in chitosan would improve the blood compatibility and anti-infection property. The surface properties and Cu ions release behavior of Cu-bearing coating revealed the reasons for multi-biofunctions. This study indicated that the Cu-bearing chitosan coating could endow the vascular implant interventional device anticoagulation and anti-infection functions, which has excellent potential for clinical application.