In vitro mutagenicity and blood compatibility of paclitaxel and curcumin in poly (DL-lactide-co-glicolide) films.

ABSTRACT

Curcumin is considered to be a potential component for drug-eluting stents due to its anti-inflammatory properties. In this study we compared the mutagenicity and blood compatibility of curcumin to first generation drug eluting stent components paclitaxel and sirolimus. The Ames test was used to assess mutagenicity. Blood compatibility was tested by measuring platelet activation and fibrinogen adsorption on poly (DL-lactide-co-glycolide, PLGA) films. We discovered that there was no significant increase in the number of revertants/plate following treatment with curcumin (up to 0.5mg/plate) or sirolimus (up to 0.5 µg/plate). However, a significant induction in the frequency of bacterial his(+) revertant colonies by paclitaxel at concentrations of 0.02, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 µg/plate was observed. We also discovered a significant reduction in platelet activation by PLGA films containing 30% and 50% by weight curcumin. A similar reduction in platelet activation was also observed for PLGA films containing 1% by weight paclitaxel. In addition, we observed an increase of fibrinogen adsorption to PLGA-films containing curcumin. This would compromise the potential use of curcumin as a component of drug-eluting stents. Moreover, our data challenges the current view that paclitaxel does not significantly induce mutagenesis.