Influence of sulfur content on bone formation and antibacterial ability of sulfonated PEEK

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is desirable in orthopedic and dental applications because its mechanical properties are similar to those of natural bones but the bioinertness and inferior osteoconduction of PEEK have hampered many clinical applications. In this work, PEEK is sulfonated by concentrated sulfuric acid to fabricate a three-dimensional (3D) network. A hydrothermal treatment is subsequently conducted to remove the residues and the temperature is adjusted to obtain different sulfur concentrations. In vitro cell proliferation and real-time PCR analyses disclose enhanced proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of rat bone mesenchymal stem cells (rBMSCs) on the samples with small sulfur concentrations. The in vitro antibacterial evaluation reveals that all the sulfonated samples possess excellent resistance against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. The in vivo rat femur implantation model is adopted and X-ray, micro-CT, and histological analyses indicate that not only the premeditated injected bacteria cells are sterilized, but also new bone forms around the samples with small sulfur concentrations. The in vitro and in vivo results reveal that the samples subjected to the hydrothermal treatment to remove excess sulfur have better osseointegration and antibacterial ability and PEEK modified by sulfonation and hydrothermal treatment is promising in orthopedic and dental applications.