Polypropylene suture material with anti-inflammatory action

© 2018, Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute. Polypropylene (PP) monofilament threads are widely used as surging sutures. Functionalization of their surface to impart new properties is of great importance and interest for medicine. This work provides an efficient approach for chemical activation of PP surface followed by anchoring of anti-inflammatory materials (aspirin and indomethacin). Two chemical routes for activation of PP surface and two anti-inflammatory substances were combined, giving a set of four different functionalized threads. Efficiency in terms of anti-inflammatory action of resultant hybrid materials was proved by ligation of wounds made along the spine of mice with further monitoring of inflammation process. In vivo test on mice showed the best healing of surgical skin wounds by means of suture activated by 45% H2O2 solution in the presence of FeSO4 as catalyst at 60 °C for 2 h, which was then modified with aspirin. Plasma interleukin measurement and histological section experiment were performed to prove the efficiency of the threads used for tissue connection. Highest healing efficiency of the suture is obviously explained by higher containment of anti-inflammatory substance anchored on PP surface. The work provides data on a cheap and easy implementation method for novel hybrid materials in medical applications that are able to perform accurately on surgical intervention sites