Meloxicam Eluting 3D Printed 316L Stainless Steel Implants for Targeted Delivery in Bone Fixation Surgeries

Implant failures in orthopedic surgeries can occur due to inflammation, poor osteointegration, and biofilm formation. The local delivery of anti-inflammatory drugs is one of the potential solutions to address orthopedic implant failures caused by extensive inflammation, poor osteointegration, and biofilm formation. This study utilized a simple spray coating technique to deposit multilayer coatings of the anti-inflammatory drug meloxicam and PLGA on 3D printed 316L stainless steel implants. The implants were evaluated for their drug content, drug-polymer miscibility, static contact angle, corrosion resistance, in vitro release, cell adhesion, cell proliferation, and bacterial adhesion studies. The coatings aimed to improve osteointegration and reduce biofilm formation. The drug release studies demonstrated an initial burst release accompanied by sustained release for more than 30 days. The meloxicam-PLGA coated implants showed higher resistance to pitting corrosion, improved adhesion, and proliferation of human U2OS cells in comparison to uncoated implants. In addition, results from cell cytotoxicity studies confirmed that all the coatings are biocompatible and safe for in vivo application. The meloxicam-PLGA coated implants were also found to have significantly lower bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation compared to uncoated implants for both S. aureus (p < 0.01) and S. pseudintermedius (p < 0.01). The multilayer coatings developed in this study have the potential to improve adhesion at the implant-bone interface and thus might prevent implant rejections in patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. Moreover, this method can be applied to other drugs and polymers to address the issues related to implant failure, pain management, and surgical site infections.