Surface modification of nano-silica on the ligament advanced reinforcement system for accelerated bone formation: primary human osteoblasts testing in vitro and animal testing in vivo

The Ligament Advanced Reinforcement System (LARS) has been considered as a promising graft for ligament reconstruction. To improve its biocompatibility and effectiveness on new bone formation, we modified the surface of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) ligament with nanoscale silica using atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and silica polymerization. The modified ligament is tested by both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Human osteoblast testing in vitro exhibits an ∼21% higher value in cell viability for silica-modified grafts compared with original grafts. Animal testing in vivo shows that there is new formed bone in the case of a nanoscale silica-coated ligament. These results demonstrate that our approach for nanoscale silica surface modification on LARS could be potentially applied for ligament reconstruction.