Stents are inserted in the arteries to keep blood vessels open and unclogged, and are already coated with medications designed to prevent clots. But the medications can cause problems in the vessels and even may lead to blood clots in rare cases.
A new study by researchers from Louisiana State University in rats suggests that coating stents with two chemicals found in red wine, resveratrol and quercetin may help them do a better job of propping open arteries after angioplasty.
They found that the treated stents blocked the narrowing of blood vessels and led to less inflammation in the four weeks after they were inserted into the rats.
Philippe Marambaud, an assistant professor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, who researches Alzheimer's disease and studies resveratrol, says the study looks promising. "There's overwhelming evidence that this compound has very powerful properties," he said, according to the report by US News.
‘This is a preliminary study in an animal model, much more research and large-scale clinical trials would be needed" to determine whether the coated stents have value as a treatment for people,’ says Dr. Gregg Fonarow, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, however, describing the research as intriguing.
The study was presented last Friday at an American Heart Association conference in Chicago.
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