Perivascular sustained release of atorvastatin from a hydrogel-microparticle delivery system decreases intimal hyperplasia

Abstract Intimal hyperplasia (IH) is the major cause of grafted vessel occlusion and occurs frequently after bypass intervention. No pharmaceutical formulation is currently available to prevent this pathology. Local perivascular delivery of an appropriate active compound released in a time-dependent manner (from day one up to 4 weeks) is necessary for an efficient single-administration preventive therapy. To this aim, we propose the combination of gel and microparticles delivery system containing atorvastatin (ATV). The incorporation of ATV in a cross-linked hyaluronic acid gel, provided in vitro a fast release over 3 days, while ATV-loaded poly-lactic- co -glycolic acid (PLGA) microparticles dispersed in the gel gave a sustained release over 4 weeks. In vivo , ATV formulations were applied perivascularly in mice undergoing carotid artery ligation. IH was significantly reduced (‐ 68%) in presence of ATV incorporated in hyaluronic acid gel and encapsulated in microparticles compared to control. No significant IH alteration was observed when ATV was incorporated only in the gel (fast release) or only in the microparticles (slow release) demonstrating that a biphasic release of ATV is essential to interfere with the development of IH. ATV was detected in adjacent tissues 28 days after the intervention, showing the sustained presence of the drug in vivo . After four weeks ATV was not detected in remote tissues, except at a very low concentration (0.044 ng/mg) in the liver, suggesting a very low risk of systemic toxicity of locally delivered ATV. Additionally, the ex vivo data showed that ATV in solution permeates through isolated human saphenous veins and thus is a good candidate for perivascular delivery. Our data demonstrate that a local biphasic ATV release on the mice ligated carotid efficiently prevents the development of IH without apparent toxicity.