Influences of surface treatments with abrasive paper and sand-blasting on surface morphology, hydrophilicity, mineralization and osteoblasts behaviors of n-CS/PK composite

Establishing an Ion-Sieving Separator by Depositing Oxygen-Deficient SiOx Layer for Stabilized Zinc Metal Anode

Stable plating/stripping of Zn metal anode remains a great challenge owing to uncontrollable dendrite growth and side reactions. Ion-sieving separators is a unique and promising solution, that possess Zn2+ permeability and promote Zn2+ transport, can effectively alleviate the abovementioned problems. Ion-sieving on glass fiber separator by deposition of oxygen-deficient SiOx layer via active screen plasma technology is achieved. While having chemical composition similar to the glass fiber, the SiOx nanoparticles contain oxygen-rich vacancies that promoted dissociation of the adsorbed water and generation of the hydroxyl groups. The negatively-charged hydroxylated SiOx layer can repel SO4 2- and attract Zn2+, which can alleviate the side reactions. The strong interplay between hydroxyl groups and Zn2+ can boost Zn affinity and yield fast Zn2+ transport. Consequently, the SiOx-deposited GF separator enabled dendrite-free Zn deposition morphology, which displays lower overpotential of 18 mV and longer cycling life over 2000 h for Zn symmetric cell. Such a separator can also be easily scaled up to prepare the high-performance large-area (4 × 6 cm2) pouch Zn-based devices, showing remarkable flexibility and practicality.

Polyetheretherketone implants with hierarchical porous structure for boosted osseointegration

BACKGROUND

Good osseointegration is the key to the long-term stability of bone implants. Thermoplastic polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been widely used in orthopedics; however, its inherent biological inertia causes fibrous tissue to wrap its surface, which leads to poor osseointegration and thus greatly limits its clinical applications.

METHODS

Herein, we developed a facile yet effective surface modification strategy. A commonly used sulfonation coupled with "cold pressing" treatment in the presence of porogenic agent formed a three-dimensional hierarchical porous structure on PEEK surface. Subsequently, the effects of porous surface on the in vitro adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) were evaluated. Finally, the osteoinduction and osseointegration of surface-porous PEEK implant were examined in the rat distal femoral defect model.

RESULTS

In vitro results showed that the surface modification did not significantly affect the mechanical performance and cytocompatibility of PEEK substance, and the porous structure on the modified PEEK substrate provided space for cellular ingrowth and enhanced osteogenic differentiation and mineralization of BMSCs. In vivo tests demonstrated that the surface-porous PEEK implant could effectively promote new bone formation and had higher bone-implant contact rate, thereby achieving good bone integration with the surrounding host bone. In addition, this modification technique was also successfully demonstrated on a medical PEEK interbody fusion cage.

CONCLUSION

The present study indicates that topological morphology plays a pivotal role in determining implant osseointegration and this facile and effective modification strategy developed by us is expected to achieve practical applications quickly.

Surface Modifications of High-Performance Polymer Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) to Improve Its Biological Performance in Dentistry

This comprehensive review focuses on polyetheretherketone (PEEK), a synthetic thermoplastic polymer, for applications in dentistry. As a high-performance polymer, PEEK is intrinsically robust yet biocompatible, making it an ideal substitute for titanium-the current gold standard in dentistry. PEEK, however, is also inert due to its low surface energy and brings challenges when employed in dentistry. Inert PEEK often falls short of achieving a few critical requirements of clinical dental materials, such as adhesiveness, osseoconductivity, antibacterial properties, and resistance to tribocorrosion. This study aims to review these properties and explore the various surface modification strategies that enhance the performance of PEEK. Literatures searches were conducted on Google Scholar, Research Gate, and PubMed databases using PEEK, polyetheretherketone, osseointegration of PEEK, PEEK in dentistry, tribology of PEEK, surface modifications, dental applications, bonding strength, surface topography, adhesive in dentistry, and dental implant as keywords. Literature on the topics of surface modification to increase adhesiveness, tribology, and osseointegration of PEEK were included in the review. The unavailability of full texts was considered when excluding literature. Surface modifications via chemical strategies (such as sulfonation, plasma treatment, UV treatment, surface coating, surface polymerization, etc.) and/or physical approaches (such as sandblasting, laser treatment, accelerated neutral atom beam, layer-by-layer assembly, particle leaching, etc.) discussed in the literature are summarized and compared. Further, approaches such as the incorporation of bioactive materials, e.g., osteogenic agents, antibacterial agents, etc., to enhance the abovementioned desired properties are explored. This review presents surface modification as a critical and essential approach to enhance the biological performance of PEEK in dentistry by retaining its mechanical robustness.

Enhancing bioactivity and stability of polymer-based material-tissue interface through coupling multiscale interfacial interactions with atomic-thin TiO2 nanosheets

Stable and bioactive material-tissue interface (MTF) basically determines the clinical applications of biomaterials in wound healing, sustained drug release, and tissue engineering. Although many inorganic nanomaterials have been widely explored to enhance the stability and bioactivity of polymer-based biomaterials, most are still restricted by their stability and biocompatibility. Here we demonstrate the enhanced bioactivity and stability of polymer-matrix bio-composite through coupling multiscale material-tissue interfacial interactions with atomically thin TiO2 nanosheets. Resin modified with TiO2 nanosheets displays improved mechanical properties, hydrophilicity, and stability. Also, we confirm that this resin can effectively stimulate the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation into osteogenic and odontogenic lineages of human dental pulp stem cells using in vitro cell-resin interface model. TiO2 nanosheets can also enhance the interaction between demineralized dentinal collagen and resin. Our results suggest an approach to effectively up-regulate the stability and bioactivity of MTFs by designing biocompatible materials at the sub-nanoscale.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material (further details of fabrication and characterization of TiO2 NSs and TiO2-ARCs, the bioactivity evaluation of TiO2-ARCs on hDPSCs, and the measurement of interaction with demineralized dentin collagen) is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s12274-022-5153-1.

Strategies to improve bioactive and antibacterial properties of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) for use as orthopedic implants

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has gradually become the mainstream material for preparing orthopedic implants due to its similar elastic modulus to human bone, high strength, excellent wear resistance, radiolucency, and biocompatibility. Since the 1990s, PEEK has increasingly been used in orthopedics. Yet, the widespread application of PEEK is limited by its bio-inertness, hydrophobicity, and susceptibility to microbial infections. Further enhancing the osteogenic properties of PEEK-based implants remains a difficult task. This article reviews some modification methods of PEEK in the last five years, including surface modification of PEEK or incorporating materials into the PEEK matrix. For surface modification, PEEK can be modified by chemical treatment, physical treatment, or surface coating with bioactive substances. For PEEK composite material, adding bioactive filler into PEEK through the melting blending method or 3D printing technology can increase the biological activity of PEEK. In addition, some modification methods such as sulfonation treatment of PEEK or grafting antibacterial substances on PEEK can enhance the antibacterial performance of PEEK. These strategies aim to improve the bioactive and antibacterial properties of the modified PEEK. The researchers believe that these modifications could provide valuable guidance on the future design of PEEK orthopedic implants.

A two-phase and long-lasting multi-antibacterial coating enables titanium biomaterials to prevent implants-related infections

In clinical work, the main challenges for titanium (Ti) implantation are bacterial infection and aseptic loosening, which severely affect the survival rate of implants. The first 4 weeks post-operation is the infection peak phase of implants. Inhibiting implant infection caused by bacteria adhesion and proliferation during the early phase as well as promoting subsequent osteointegration is essential for implant success. Herein, we constructed a quaternary ammonium carboxymethyl chitosan (QCMC), collagen (COL Ⅰ) and hydroxyapatite (HAP) multilayers coating on Ti substrates via a modified layer-by-layer (LBL) technique and polymerization of dopamine. The QCMC/COL/HAP coating exhibited a multi-antibacterial property with a two-phase function: (1) At the first 4 weeks post-operation, the covalently bonded QCMC could be slowly degraded and demonstrated both contact-killing and release-killing properties during the infection peak phase; (2) At the second phase, osteogenesis and osseointegration-promotion capabilities were enhanced by HAP under the effective control of infection. The multifilm coating was degraded for more than 45 days under the action of collagenase Ⅰ, and displayed good biocompatibility in vivo and in vitro. Most importantly, the coating exhibited a long-lasting antibacterial activity for more than 3 months, against the main pathogenic bacteria of peri-implant infections. Both in vitro studies and in vivo animal models revealed a desirable osteogenic differentiation capacity of Ti-CCH. Therefore, our study reports a two-phase, long-lasting multi-antibacterial coating on Ti-CCH and indicates potential applications of the modified LBL strategy in orthopaedic fields, which is enlightening for developing practical implant and scaffold materials.

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Developing a QCMC/COL/HAP multifilm coating via modified layer-by-layer technique and self-polymerization of dopamine.

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The QCMC/COL/HAP coating exhibited desirable mechanical properties and excellent biocompatibility.

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The release kinetics endowed the QCMC/COL/HAP coating with multi-antibacterial activity at the first phase after operation.

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The QCMC/COL/HAP coating could improve osseointegration at the second phase of post-operation.

Modification of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) physical features to improve osteointegration

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has been widely applied in orthopedics because of its excellent mechanical properties, radiolucency, and biocompatibility. However, the bioinertness and poor osteointegration of PEEK have greatly limited its further application. Growing evidence proves that physical factors of implants, including their architecture, surface morphology, stiffness, and mechanical stimulation, matter as much as the composition of their surface chemistry. This review focuses on the multiple strategies for the physical modification of PEEK implants through adjusting their architecture, surface morphology, and stiffness. Many research findings show that transforming the architecture and incorporating reinforcing fillers into PEEK can affect both its mechanical strength and cellular responses. Modified PEEK surfaces at the macro scale and micro/nano scale have positive effects on cell-substrate interactions. More investigations are necessary to reach consensus on the optimal design of PEEK implants and to explore the efficiency of various functional implant surfaces. Soft-tissue integration has been ignored, though evidence shows that physical modifications also improve the adhesion of soft tissue. In the future, ideal PEEK implants should have a desirable topological structure with better surface hydrophilicity and optimum surface chemistry.

Regulation of surface micro/nano structure and composition of polyetheretherketone and their influence on the behavior of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts

The bio-inertness and inferior osseointegration of polyetheretherketone (PEEK) affect its long-term lifetime in clinical applications, and appropriate surface modification is an effective way to enhance osseointegration of PEEK implants. In the present study, a strategy of combining sulfonation with alkali treatment was proposed to endow PEEK with rapid apatite deposition and thus enhanced bioactivity. After 3 min of sulfonation with 98% H2SO4, the sample (PEEK-S-3) showed an optimized surface microporous network and obviously improved hydrophilicity. Its contact angle reduced from the original 106 ± 2.3° to 88 ± 4.0°. After a further 24 h of NaOH treatment on PEEK-S-3, Na element was introduced into the obtained sample (PEEK-Na-24), which had a similar surface morphology and chemical structure with PEEK-S-3 and had a further reduced contact angle (77.9 ± 2.9°). The in vitro bioactivity tests showed that after only 3 days of immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF), PEEK-Na-24 was fully covered with a layer of uniform bone-like apatite. The apatite deposition sharply decreased the contact angle of the sample (PEEK-HA) to 16.6 ± 2.6° and increased its surface roughness to 1.05 ± 0.27 μm, leading to the enhanced adsorption of serum proteins on PEEK-HA. The in vitro cell culture indicated that all the three surface-modified samples (PEEK-S-3, PEEK-Na-24 and PEEK-HA) could promote the adhesion, spreading, proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 pre-osteoblasts, and PEEK-HA presented the best effect. Thus, the surface bioactive PEEK resulting from the optimized surface modification, i.e. combination of sulfonation, alkali treatment and biomimetic apatite deposition, could have good potential in clinical application.

Biocompatibility Analyses of Al₂O₃-Treated Titanium Plates Tested with Osteocyte and Fibroblast Cell Lines

Osseointegration of a titanium implant is still an issue in dental/orthopedic implants durable over time. The good integration of these implants is mainly due to their surface and topography. We obtained an innovative titanium surface by shooting different-in-size particles of Al₂O₃ against the titanium scaffolds which seems to be ideal for bone integration. To corroborate that, we used two different cell lines: MLO-Y4 (murine osteocytes) and 293 (human fibroblasts) and tested the titanium scaffolds untreated and treated (i.e., Al₂O₃ shot-peened titanium surfaces). Distribution, density, and expression of adhesion molecules (fibronectin and vitronectin) were evaluated under scanning electron microscope (SEM) and confocal microscope (CM). DAPI and fluorochrome-conjugated antibodies were used to highlight nuclei, fibronectin, and vitronectin, under CM; cell distribution was analyzed after gold-palladium sputtering of samples by SEM. The engineered biomaterial surfaces showed under SEM irregular morphology displaying variously-shaped spicules. Both SEM and CM observations showed better outcome in terms of cell adhesion and distribution in treated titanium surfaces with respect to the untreated ones. The results obtained clearly showed that this kind of surface-treated titanium, used to manufacture devices for dental implantology: (i) is very suitable for cell colonization, essential prerequisite for the best osseointegration, and (ii) represents an excellent solution for the development of further engineered implants with the target to obtain recovery of stable dental function over time.