Cervical degenerative disease is a common and frequently occurring disease, which seriously affects the health and quality of the life of patients worldwide. Anterior cervical decompression and interbody fusion is currently recognized as the gold standard for the treatment of degenerative cervical spondylosis. Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has become the prevailing material for cervical fusion surgery. Although PEEK has excellent biocompatibility, it is difficult to form bone connection at its bone-implant interface due to its low surface hydrophilicity and conductivity. It is widely accepted that Ti has excellent osteogenic activity and biocompatibility. In this study, a Ti-PEEK composite cage was prepared by coating Ti on the surface of a PEEK cage using a vacuum plasma spraying technique to enhance the osteogenic property of PEEK. The Ti-PEEK samples were evaluated in terms of their in vitro cellular behaviors and in vivo osteointegration, and the results were compared to a pure PEEK substrate. The skeleton staining and MTS assay indicated that the MC3T3-E1 cells spread and grew well on the surface of Ti-PEEK cages. The osteogenic gene expression and western blot analysis of osteogenic protein showed upregulated bone-forming activity of MC3T3-E1 cells in Ti-PEEK cages. Furthermore, a significant increase in new bone formation was demonstrated on Ti-PEEK implants in comparison with PEEK implants at 12 weeks in a sheep cervical spine fusion test. These results proved that the Ti-PEEK cage exhibited enhanced osseointegrative properties compared to the PEEK cage both in vitro and in vivo.

宫颈退行性疾病是一种常见且多发病的疾病，严重影响着全世界患者的健康和生活质量。颈椎前路减压椎间融合术是目前公认的治疗退行性颈椎病的金标准。聚醚醚酮（PEEK）已成为颈椎融合手术的主流材料。PEEK虽然具有优异的生物相容性，但由于其表面亲水性和导电性低，难以在其骨-植入物界面形成骨连接。钛具有优异的成骨活性和生物相容性已被广泛接受。在这项研究中，通过使用真空等离子喷涂技术在 PEEK 笼的表面涂覆 Ti 来制备 Ti-PEEK 复合笼，以增强 PEEK 的成骨性能。体外细胞行为和体内骨整合，并将结果与​​纯 PEEK 底物进行比较。骨架染色和 MTS 分析表明 MC3T3-E1 细胞在 Ti-PEEK 笼的表面扩散和生长良好。成骨基因表达和成骨蛋白的蛋白质印迹分析显示 Ti-PEEK 笼中 MC3T3-E1 细胞的成骨活性上调。此外，在羊颈椎融合试验中，与 PEEK 植入物相比，Ti-PEEK 植入物在 12 周时显着增加了新骨形成。这些结果证明，与 PEEK 笼相比，Ti-PEEK 笼在体外和体内均表现出增强的骨整合特性。