In the surgical treatment of urinary
diseases, ureteral stents are commonly used interventional medical devices. Although
polymer ureteral
stents with
polyurethane as the main constituent are widely used in the clinic, the need for secondary surgery to remove them and their propensity to cause
bacterial infections greatly limit their effectiveness. To satisfy clinical requirements, an electrospinning-based strategy to fabricate PLGA ureteral
stents with
silver@
graphdiyne is innovated.
Silver (Ag) nanoparticles are uniformly loaded on the surface of
graphdiyne (GDY) flakes. It is found that the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles into GDY markedly increases their antibacterial properties. Subsequently, the synthesized and purified Ag@GDY is homogeneously blended with
poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) as an
antimicrobial agent, and electrospinning along with high-speed collectors is used to make tubular
stents. The antibacterial effect of Ag@GDY and the porous microstructure of the
stents can effectively prevent bacterial biofilm formation. Furthermore, the
stents gradually decrease in toughness but increase in strength during the degradation process. The cellular and subcutaneous implantation experiments demonstrate the moderate biocompatibility of the
stents. In summary, considering these performance characteristics and the technical feasibility of the approach taken, this study opens new possibilities for the design and application of biodegradable ureteral
stents.