Drug delivery property, antibacterial performance and cytocompatibility of gentamicin loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) coating on porous magnesium scaffold

Implant associated infection remains a difficult medical problem in orthopaedic surgery. Here, we report on the fabrication of gentamicin loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) coating on porous magnesium scaffold (Gent-PLGA-Mg) for use as a type of controlled antibiotic delivery system bone scaffolds to achieve the sustained release of antibiotics in the local sites of bone defects. The drug loaded PLGA coating of Mg scaffold enable higher drug loading efficiency (28-33%) than non-coating gentamicin loaded Mg scaffold (Gent-Mg) (2-3%). The Gent-PLGA-Mg exhibited sustained drug release for more than 14 days, and this controlled release of gentamicin significantly inhibited bacterial adhesion and prevented biofilm formation by Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (ATCC35984). Biocompatibility tests with human bone marrow stromal cells indicated that PLGA-Mg had better biocompatibility than Mg. Therefore, Gent-PLGA-Mg is potential to be used as a controlled drug delivery system bone scaffolds to prevent and/or treat orthopaedic peri-implant infections.