Novel vascular strategies on polyetheretherketone modification in promoting osseointegration in ovariectomized rats

The primary stability and final osseointegration of endosseous implants may be hindered by certain abnormal bone-metabolism conditions, such as osteoporosis. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), which shows similar adjust-able elastic modulus with cortical bone, is considered to be an ideal candidate to replace metallic implants, espe-cially for osteoporotic bone. However, the bioinertness and poor osteogenic properties of PEEK fail to pave the way for clinical application. Here, a novel coating (EBE-SrSi) with bioactive elements on PEEK implants was gen-erated via electron beam evaporation (EBE) to enhance the rapid osseointegration by inducing osteogenesis, as well as angiogenesis. In vitro, the dual Sr/Si ion modified surface exihibits a better osteo-inductive effect on the BMSCs derived from ovariectomized rats (rBMSCs-OVX). Furthermore, the modified samples also stimulated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) migration and angiogenesis. Finally, in the OVX rat bonedefect model, the EBE-SrSi group exhibited faster bone formation which might be attributed to the impact of the trans-formation of endogenous MSC accompanied by promotion of the angiogenic activity of endothelial cells. Our re-sults unveiled the potential of dual Sr/Si modified PEEK in promoting osseointegration under osteoporotic conditions and will further broaden the adoption of PEEK materials in dental fields. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study successfully enhanced the bioactivity of PEEK implants by applying dual Sr/Si ion modification, promoting osseointegration and accelerating bone formation. This has the potential to be widely adopted in the dental field under osteoporotic conditions.