Highly crosslinked ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) stabilized by vitamin E (VE) is widely applied in artificial joints as the bearings. Despite the approval, there is a discord that VE lowers the crosslinking efficiency, limiting its use at high concentration.

In this study, we hypothesized that highly incorporated tea polyphenol with multiple reactive sites can ameliorate crosslinking efficiency of chemical crosslinked UHMWPE in comparison to VE. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) as representative tea polyphenol was incorporated into UHMWPE at high concentration (2 ‒ 8 wt%), followed by chemical crosslinking with 2 wt% organic peroxide. Unlike VE/UHMWPE blends as the control, chemical crosslinking achieved an increasing trend in crosslink density of EGCG/UHMWPE blends with increasing antioxidant concentration. High concentration of EGCG also enhanced the oxidation stability of UHMWPE. Intriguingly, EGCG endowed UHMWPE with an excellent antimicrobial property, which was inefficient in VE/UHMWPE. Cell viability was hardly affected by the high-loaded antioxidant and peroxide. The chemically crosslinked UHMWPE blended with EGCG is proved to be a reasonable, cost-effective and realistic alternative for use in artificial joints.

Nouman Ali Shah¹, Yue Ren¹, Ri-Tong Lan, Jia-Cheng Lv, Rizwan M. Gul, Peng-Fei Tan, Shishu Huang, Lin Tan*, Jia-Zhuang Xu*, Zhong-Ming Li, Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene with improved crosslink density, oxidation stability, and microbial inhibition by chemical crosslinking and tea polyphenols for total joint replacements. Journal of Applied Polymer Science 2021,e51261. https://doi.org/10.1002/app .51261