Current artificial ligaments based on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) are associated with some disadvantages due to their hydrophobicity and low biocompatibility. In this study, we aimed to modify the surface of PET using polyethylene glycol (PEG)-terminated polystyrene (PS)-linoleic nanoparticles (PLinaS-g-PEG-NPs). We accomplished that BMP-2 in two different concentrations encapsulated in nanoparticles with an efficiency of 99.71 ± 1.5 and 99.95 ± 2.8%. While the dynamic contact angle of plain PET surface reduced from 116° to 115° after a measurement periods of 10 s, that of PLinaS-g-PEG-NPs modified PET from 80° to 17.5° within 0.35 s. According to in vitro BMP2 release study, BMP-2 was released 13.12 ± 1.76% and 45.47 ± 1.78% from 0.05 and 0.1BMP2-PLinaS-g-PEG-NPs modified PET at the end of 20 days, respectively. Findings from this study revealed that BMP2-PLinaS-g-PEG-NPs has a great potential to improve the artificial PET ligaments, and could be effectively applied for ACL reconstruction.
Keywords: Graft; anterior cruciate ligament (ACL); linoleic acid; nanoparticles; polyethylene glycol (PEG); polyethylene terephthalate (PET).