Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Atherosclerosis has become a serious problem in the developed countries that are aging. Therefore, countermeasures to the atherosclerosis have become important. Although there are various medical treatments for the atherosclerosis, a stent placement has received much attention as a minimally invasive procedure for vascular stenotic lesion based on the coronary atherosclerosis, the arteriosclerosis obliterans, etc. A stent is a cylindrical tube-shaped medical device that can expand the stenotic lesion in a blood vessel continuously. However, the long-term placement of stents can lead to the severe problems of in-stent restenosis and stent thrombosis in blood vessels. To prevent these problems, stents coated with immunosuppresant or biomolecule now comes into general use. However, the larger force acting on the vascular wall induces vascular inflammatory reaction, and it increases the risk of long-term in-stent restenosis or stent thrombosis because of mismatch in the mechanical properties between stent and blood vessel. The hitherto existing development of a stent is trial and error, and it cannot resolve the problems of long-term in-stent restenosis or stent thrombosis.

The aim of this research is to develop the next-generation stent with high functionality through establishment of a novel design theory integrated with mechanobiology and design engineering. This research provides a cultured blood vessel model with the hemodynamic environment. This blood vessel model is useful for study about vascular pathology or drug discovery. This research also elucidates the mechanisms of in-stent restenosis and neointimal formation based on vascular mechanobiology. The results of this research can lead to an innovation in technology for cardiovascular treatment.