Macrophage polarization following three-dimensional porous PEEK

Macrophages play an important role in foreign body reaction (FBR), and exhibit a detrimental or beneficial function in tissue repair while polarized into different phenotypes. The objective of this work is to evaluate the effect of three-dimensional (3D) porous polyetheretherketone (PEEK) on macrophage polarization through sulfonating PEEK and establishing a mouse air pouch model. The in vivo results show that the sulfonated PEEK induced higher levels of anti-inflammatory cytokine together with lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine. In addition, it was found that a relatively mild infiltration of inflammatory cells was caused and there were more M2 macrophages and less M1 ones when compared with PEEK. It indicates that 3D porous PEEK induces a shift to M2 macrophages and has large potential in regenerative medicine application.