Cerium-containing mesoporous bioactive glasses: Material characterization, in vitro bioactivity, biocompatibility and cytotoxicity evaluation

Abstract

Abstract Bone defects due to trauma or diseases causing bone loss have led to an increased demand for new materials that have applications in therapies for bone pathologies. Mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs), based on 70SiO2-(26-x)CaO 4P2O5-xCeO2 (x = 0, 1 and 5 mol % for MBGS, MBGS1Ce and MBGS5Ce) were synthesized by evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) method. Ceria was selected due to its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties and positive impact on cells differentiation and mineralization. The pore size values of 2.8 nm confirmed the mesoporosity of the obtained bio-glasses. The biocompatibility tests on mouse fibroblast cells (NCTC clone L929) using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity assays revealed no cytotoxicity of Cerium containing MBGs. Formation of a hydroxycarbonate apatite (HCA) layer on MBGs surface, e.g. bioactivity of BMGs, was confirmed by XRD, FTIR, SEM and Raman Spectroscopy while presence of Ce3+/Ce4+ in the glasses before body simulated fluid (SBF) immersion was determined by XPS, UV–Vis measurements. The obtained results show that investigated MBGs are potential materials for applications in bone regeneration.