Bone Mimetic Polyetheretherketone Implant Coating Facilitates Early Osseointegration

Abstract

Aging society demands advanced bone implants that can achieve long‐term success through osseointegration at the bone‐implant interface. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK), a bioinert implant material, often struggles with connecting to existing bone tissue, leading to inflammation and implant replacement. Following nature's lessons, a new strategy is introduced that masks the surface of bio‐ and chemically inert Polyetheretherketone implants with a covalently anchored bone‐mimetic surface. This method transforms PEEK into a bone‐integrative material by grafting a ≈300 nm thick gelatin layer onto its surface, subsequently mineralized with calcium phosphate. Herein, it is showed that this surface modification for implant materials combines excellent bulk implant properties with the characteristic structure and functional properties of natural bone. In vitro biocompatibility assays, employing NIH‐3T3 fibroblast and MC3T3‐E1 osteoblast cell lines, confirm the enhanced biocompatibility of the modified material. This strategy offers promising prospects for improving bone implants and exemplifies the adaptation of a non‐osseointegrative material to a bone‐like interface.