Exploring the thumbprints of Ag-hydroxyapatite composite as a surface coating bone material for the implants
J. Anita Lett, Suresh Sagadevan, Suriati Paiman, Faruq Mohammad, Romana Schirhagl, Estelle Léonard, Solhe F. Alshahateet, Won‐Chun Oh
Abstract
Polylactic acid (PLA), although has many interesting physicochemical characteristics, the strong hydrophobicity and a lack of antibacterial activity restricting its widespread application in the medical sector. In a view of addressing some of the limitations of PLA, the current study aimed to test the antibacterial efficacy of active metal-doped bioceramic/PLA composite formed by the fused deposition manufacturing (FDM) technique. For the testing, we prepared polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) bound silver-hydroxyapatite (Ag-HAp) composite and further applied as a low-temperature coating onto the PLA scaffold designed for the appropriate cell development, differentiation, and bio-mineral establishment. From the analysis, we revealed that the larger surface area of three-dimensional (3D) printed composite material having the matrix porosity makes it a perfect biocompatible material with no loss to its mechanical potency. The HAp/PLA and Ag-HAp/PLA composites were tested for the hemocompatibility, and antibacterial activity (gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria). Further, the mechanical property of the Ag-HAp/PLA scaffold was tested. The results demonstrated that the Ag-HAp/PLA composite offers the biocompatibility and antibacterial ability and therefore can serve as the potential bone implant material.