# Novel Zinc-Nanocomposite Materials for Pediatric Bioresorbable Cardiovascular Stents

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES · 2021 · $439,066

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Many infants with congenital heart disease are born with obstruction in the aorta (aortic coarctation) or in the
pulmonary arteries. Options for adults with these severe vascular obstructions include medications, surgery,
and catheter-based interventions such as stents. For pediatric patients that do not respond to medications,
surgery posts increased risks, and stents are not recommended because growing children require stents that
either grow with the child, or biodegrade after tissue remodeling, so that the developing tissues can grow with
the rest of the body. Unfortunately, most bioresorbable stents (BRS) in the pipeline are polymer stents
designed for coronary arteries. As such, these stents are too soft to handle aortic and pulmonary pressures,
and too small. Bioabsorbable metals are an attractive alternative for BRS. Metals have a higher mechanical
strength and toughness than polymers, and many have a proven history of biocompatibility in vivo. One such
metal is zinc. As an essential element in basic biological functions, zinc is well tolerated by living tissues, and
recent in vivo studies have demonstrated that zinc has a steady corrosion rate with no severe adverse events.
Furthermore, zinc has greater elongation to failure than other commonly studied metals for stents – important
for expandable stent deployment. These properties make zinc an excellent candidate for pediatric BRS.
However, pure zinc is mechanically weak, and requires alloying to the increase its strength. Unfortunately, this
often comes at the cost of other favorable properties, such as corrosion rate, ductility, and/or biocompatibility.
Recently, reinforcing metallic materials with nanoparticles has demonstrated great potential as a strategy to
significantly enhance mechanical properties. By using nanoparticle-dispersions, zinc’s mechanical properties
can be improved significantly while retaining the favorable properties of zinc. Therefore, our hypothesis is that
zinc-nanocomposites can be used to manufacture BRS suitable for pediatric applications that maintain
sufficient structural integrity for 4-6 months before completely degrading into non-toxic byproducts. The
development of a pediatric BRS fabricated using zinc-nanocomposite for the treatment of congenital heart
disease will be achieved by pursuing the following aims: Aim 1 – Optimize zinc and nanoparticle combination
to strengthen zinc-nanocomposite materials for manufacturing of functional pediatric BRS. Aim 2 –
Characterize the biocompatibility, and mechanical properties of zinc- nanocomposites in vitro. Aim 3 – Assess
in vivo efficacy and biocompatibility of zinc-nanocomposite stents in a rapidly growing pig animal model. The
anticipated results will provide much needed guidance to further fine tune the core materials. Ultimately, a
mechanically robust, biocompatible, and biodegradable stent has the potential to revolutionize the treatment of
arterial obstructions in pediatrics patients by eliminati...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10210294
- **Project number:** 5R01HL143465-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
- **Principal Investigator:** Daniel Steven Levi
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $439,066
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10210294

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10210294, Novel Zinc-Nanocomposite Materials for Pediatric Bioresorbable Cardiovascular Stents (5R01HL143465-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10210294. Licensed CC0.

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