Synthesis and 3D Printing of Hierarchically Porous Polyaryletherketone Scaffolds with Enhanced Bacteriostasis for Bone Repair.

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been used in orthopedic clinical applications because of its excellent mechanical properties and chemical resistance. However, the traditional PEEK materials are bioinert and always face the problems of inadequate osseointegration and postoperative bacterial infection, which limit the clinical applications of PEEK to some extent. Here, an amorphous poly(aryletherketone) bearing carboxyl groups (PEK-COOH) was synthesized and fabricated into a hierarchically porous scaffold (LP) by low-temperature (-30 °C) 3D-printing technology. Then, the antibacterial scaffold (LP-AMP) was prepared by loading ant antimicrobial peptide (AMP) on the surface of the LP scaffold via chemical and physical methods, and the loading capacity of AMP was increased in two ways to improve the stability and durability of its antibacterial activity. The experimental results show that a LP-AMP scaffold presents high antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive bacteria (such as S. aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (such as E. coli), and the sterilization rate is above 98%. In addition, the LP-AMP scaffold shows excellent cell compatibility, and the modified AMP improves the hydrophilicity of the LP scaffold, further promoting cell adhesion and osteogenic differentiation. In vivo experiments demonstrate that the LP-AMP scaffold offers much better osseointegration than the LP scaffold. Therefore, this work develops a method to prepare an antibacterial scaffold, and the scaffold has the potential to be used in orthopedic applications.