Preparation of Ta₂O₅/ polyetheretherketone samples with loading of PLGA/antibiotic agents for the tests of antibacterial performances and cell growth activities

Background: With fast increasing of population and the lifetime of human, the possibility of orthopedic disease taking place in elder patients increases, which may make large demands for the application of heterogeneous biomaterials during the clinical treatments. Therefore, high-safety, good antibacterial properties and low cell toxicities for these orthopedic biomaterials are thus necessary. Method: The 3D-printed polyetheretherketone (PEEK)/tantalum pentoxide (Ta₂O₅) samples with various film thicknesses were prepared using thermal evaporation method. In order to improve their antibacterial properties, samples with coating of poly (D,L-lactide-co-gycolide, PLGA)/antibiotic agents were prepared. Significant findings: X-ray diffraction pattern, energy-dispersive spectra and fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy of samples revealed that the film deposited onto the PEEK disk was the amorphous Ta₂O₅. Samples with coating of mixture containing Ampicillin/Vancomycin/PLGA can maintain the suitable antibacterial performances within time interval of 25–28 days. In vitro cytocompatibility test results showed that samples with loading of antibiotic agents/PLGA did not cause the cell cytotoxicity and also maintained good antibacterial performances and may have further applications in the biomedical related technology.