High-strength porous polyetheretherketone/hydroxyapatite composite for the treatment of bone defect

Although polyetheretherketone has prospective applications in bone repair, its biological inertness limits its application. In this article, a high-strength porous polyetheretherketone/hydroxyapatite composite (hp-PK-HA) was developed through thermally induced phase separation and hydrothermal synthesis methods. The synthe-sized hp-PK-HA possesses an interconnected pore structure. The mechanical properties and porosity can be adjusted by changing the solid content. The maximum compressive modulus of the synthesized material is close to 1 GPa, and the porosity is between 30% and 60%, which conforms to the physical structure of the human skeleton. In vitro osteoblast differentiation experiments, compared with nonporous injection-molded poly-etheretherketone (IM-PK) and high-strength porous polyetheretherketone (hp-PK, without HA), hp-PK-HA exhibited an outstanding osteogenic differentiation capacity in alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alizarin red S (ARS) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. In rat calvarial defects experiments, hp-PK-HA exhibited excellent osseointegration and bone regeneration ability and was confirmed by microcomputed tomography analysis, hard tissue sections, and immunohistochemistry staining. Overall, polyetheretherketone/hydroxyapa-tite composites may provide an efficient platform for the treatment of bone defects.