Counterionic biopolymers-reinforced bioactive glass scaffolds with improved mechanical properties in wet state

Abstract

We reported a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly strategy to fabricate counterionic biopolymers-reinforced 45S5 bioglass (BG) scaffolds, with improved mechanical properties and structural stability in wet condition. The BG scaffolds were prepared using microsphere replication technique. The biopolymer coatings in porous walls were fabricated by alternately infiltrating BG scaffolds with alginate and chitosan solutions. Three layers of alginate–chitosan couples led to great improvement in compressive strength, almost 4 times higher than that of BG scaffold and showed nearly 30% of shrinkage in wet state. The prolonged immersion in simulated body fluid for 48h showed excellent strain tolerance and did not lead to significant strength reduction. These results suggest that the counterionic biopolymer-reinforced BG scaffolds are promising candidates for bone repair.