[1] Treatment of cell membranes, like those of RBCs, by certain enzymes, like some phospholipase A2, renders the phosphorylcholine moiety exposed to the external aqueous phase, and thus accessible for recognition by the immune system.
[3] In interventional cardiology, phosphorylcholine is used as a synthetic polymer-based coating, applied to drug-eluting stents, to prevent the occurrence of coronary artery restenosis.
[4] The first application of this approach for use of stents evolved from efforts by Hayward, Chapman et al., who showed that the phosphorylcholine component of the outer surface of the erythrocyte bilayer was non-thrombogenicity.
[7] Phosphorylcholine is used as the polymer-based coating of a DES because its molecular design improves surface biocompatibility and lowers the risk of causing inflammation or thrombosis.
This use of biomimicry, or the practice of using polymers that occur naturally in biology, provides a coating with minimal thrombus deposition and no adverse clinical effect on late healing of the arterial vessel wall.