Article Text
Abstract
Background To develop a new accelerated in vitro model that has implications for investigating the mechanism of biliary stent occlusion and help in the development of new materials that can alleviate this problem.
Methods We employ a combination of reconstituted animal bile, bacteria and cellulose fibres optimised to reproducibly generate accelerated occlusion of stents, and produce occlusions that closely mimic those found in clinical studies.
Results Our model affords repeatable, highly accelerated occlusion (within 2–3 days, compared with between about a week to 2 months in previous models). Our results highlight the role of dietary fibre in blockage of stents and demonstrate their importance in the onset of occlusion.
Conclusions This accelerated model may have implications for developing biliary stents with enhanced patency.
- gastrointestinal
- biliary stent
- in vitro model
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Footnotes
Contributors GK and BLVP have conceived the experiments and monitored the work regularly. They also have written the manuscript. SS and HB have carried out the experiments and collated the results under the supervision of GK and BLVP. SKA and GKM have provided critical inputs and also helped in revising the experimental design to make it relevant for clinicians. GKM also helped in writing the manuscript.
Funding This work was funded by CSIR-New Delhi through the network project CSC0134.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.