Figure 4.

Morphometric analysis at day 7 post-stent implantation. Representative images of porcine coronary artery cross-sections observed at day 7 after stent implantation with either bare metal stent, drug-eluting stent, or CD31-mimetic stents (plasma aminated or dip-coated) and stained with Masson’s trichrome. Arrowheads indicate the presence of a continuous endothelial layer over the stent struts in the bare metal stent and CD31-mimetic groups, but not over the drug-eluting stent struts. The latter were also the only ones showing the presence of a fibrin layer (asterisks) and signs of necrosis (arrows) within the tissue matter covering the stent struts.