Alkali-free-based bioactive glass compositions and devices for the most demanding applications in healthcare, bone regeneration and tissue engineering

Abstract

"The commercially available bioactive glasses such as the 45S5 Bioglass®, and other high alkali-containing compositions, suffer from poor thermal stability, inappropriate dissolution rates and extreme high pH values. Such high alkaline conditions do not naturally occur in the human body, are likely leading to ionization of proteins, change their functions, and induce cell necrosis. The high sodium contents of the 45S5 Bioglass® and the like compositions, make the fabrication of porous 3D scaffolds difficult, confer them poor sintering ability, and turn the materials cytotoxic. These main drawbacks have driven our research efforts towards developing new and better performing materials in vitro and in vivo, while enhancing the fabrication of 3D porous scaffolds with tailor-made porous structures to promote osteointegration. Another alternative/complementary approach is the development of bioactive glass wool microfibers enjoying of shape-adaptability to fill any bone defect as a kind of universal ready to scaffold. All the relevant features strongly depend on a number of interrelated factors that need to be well compromised, including the chemical composition and glass structure, which determine the biocompatibility, the degradation rate, and the easiness of processing (shaping and sintering), or fibre drawing the molten material. This presentation provides an overview about the motivations behind the development of a new series of alkali-free bioactive glass compositions based on bioactive minerals such as Diopside (Di), Fluorapatite (FA) and Tricalcium Phosphate (TCP), as well as their further compositional refinements towards obtaining the desired sets of well-balanced overall properties for the most demanding applications in healthcare, bone regeneration and tissue engineering. "

Publication
2nd International Conference on Advanced Materials for Bio-Related Applications