Fig. 7A–B.

(A) Representative stress-strain curves are shown for PMMA bone cement with various additives (compressive tests). Loading vancomycin-acrylamide-2 (VA-2) at 10 wt% results in properties similar to those of PMMA, suggesting that polymerizable antibiotic derivatives may avoid some of the problems classically encountered with high-dose vancomycin loading. However, adding VPA(3400) at 10 wt% severely compromises mechanical properties and may lead to microcracking. This behavior is likely the result of the bulky PEG linker or its hydrophilicity. It is expected that an optimum number of ethylene glycol repeats would result in properties between those of VA-2 and VPA(3400) while at the same time offer antibiofilm properties. (B) Key mechanical properties are illustrated.