In vitro studies of biodegradable Zn-0.1Li alloy for potential esophageal stent application

Abstract Esophageal stent implantation is an effective treatment for esophageal cancer. Current clinically-used esophageal stents are non-degradable metallic stents, such as nitinol and stainless steel, which displayed poor compliance and histocompatibility, and resulted in serious complications, such as esophageal restenosis, perforation, chest pain, etc. Thus, biodegradable esophageal stents are in eager need of investigation. Based on this, we evaluated the in vitro performance of newly-developed Zn-0.1Li alloy systematically, as a pilot study on its feasibility of applying in esophageal stent material. The degradation rate of Zn-0.1Li alloy in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) was 0.056 ± 0.016 mm/year, and in simulated gastric fluid (SGF) was 0.316 ± 0.022 mm/year. Zn-0.1Li alloy could maintain 95% of the initial mechanical strength after 60 days immersion. Besides, Zn-0.1Li alloy could partly inhibit L929 cell proliferation, which might be beneficial for esophageal cancer treatment.