Development of high-strength porous polyetheretherketone foam/nanosilver antibacterial composites for the prevention of postoperative infections in bone repair

Bacterial infection is one of the leading causes for the failure of orthopedic implants surgery. Herein, a high-strength porous polyetheretherketone foam/nanosilver (pf-PK-nAg) antibacterial composite was developed for the prevention or treatment of postoperative bacterial infections. The prepared pf-PK-nAg possesses an interconnected open-pore structure so that the nano-sliver particles are dispersed in the pore size uniformly by hydrothermal synthesis. In contrast to the traditional spray-coating method, pf-PK-nAg overcomes the shortcomings that the antibacterial effect decreases due to the detachment of the nano-silver at the scratched position after scratching. In vitro biocompatibility experiments show that the prepared materials have good biocompatibility. In vitro antibacterial experiments showed that pf-PK-nAg had strong antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli and the antibacterial rate is 96.8% and 96.4% respectively. In addition, immunofluorescence imaging and hematoxylin-eosin staining (H&E) was performed through a subcutaneous infection model. The results showed that compared with the control group, there were fewer macrophages and neutrophils in the skin tissue around pf-PK-nAg, indicating that pf-PK-nAg has good antibacterial ability in vivo. Overall, the prepared pf-PK-nAg can serve as an effective platform for the antibacterial field of bone repair.