Comparison of Different Bone Cement Formulations Containing Boron Derivatives

PMMA bone cement is mainly utilized to stabilize prosthetic implants; however, it is impacted by a variety of obstacles, including a lack of biocompatibility, limited thermal stability, a greater tendency to infection, and restricted mechanical strength. This study incorporates three different boron derivatives, boric acid, borax pentahydrate, and borax decahydrate into the polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) bone cement formulation, leveraging their antibacterial properties to address the identified challenges. All three bone cement formulations were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and mechanical analysis. In addition, three formulations of bone cement were evaluated for cellular viability, antibacterial properties, and biocompatibility via a hemolysis assay. Borax decahydrate significantly influenced the biomechanical properties (214.32 MPa) of bone cement samples by decreasing the development of surface porosity in the materials. Borax pentahydrate demonstrated a greater beneficial effect than borax decahydrate in the majority of analyses; nevertheless, the most optimal results were achieved with boric acid. In the 3% boric acid bone cement samples, the cellular viability was significantly enhanced until 14 days as a consequence of the formation of porous structures. Moreover, these bone cement samples exhibited promising antibacterial characteristics and biocompatibility compared to commercial bone cement, both unmodified and antibiotic-incorporated, demonstrating potential features for further research and development.