Characterization of the Viscoelastic, Dielectric, and Biological Behavior of Porous Polyethylene for Hard Tissue Replacement

The major objective of the current study was to examine the viscoelastic, dielectric, and cytotoxic characteristics of porous polyethylene (PPE) as a hard tissue replacement material. The effect of PPE on growth and metabolic activity of human embryonic kidney cells (HEK-239) was also examined. The in vitro results showed that PPE did not have a cytotoxic effect on HEK-239 and did not affect cell morphology. However, PPE did not exhibit any antimicrobial activity, where both Gram positive and Gram-negative strain are able to settle down on the surface of the polymer at starvation conditions. The SEM images showed that PPE has poor adherence to HEK-239 cells and requires additional surface treatments to be suitable for the culturing and attachment of human embryonic kidney cells. The XRD patterns, FTIR spectra, DSC and TGA analyses demonstrated that PPE has properties similar to those of conventional PE (non-porous). These results indicate that PPE fabrication techniques do not affect its thermal properties and crystal structure. Additionally, both PE materials (porous and non-porous) have similar trends for their viscoelastic and dielectric behaviors, although different moduli values were obtained for each PE type. For example, the PPE loss modulus (E-parallel to) and dielectric resistance are similar to 42% and 50% higher, respectively. Therefore, PPE appears to have behaviors and wide-ranging properties that make it a suitable candidate as hard tissue replacement material.