Effect of surfactant concentration on textural characteristics and biomineralization behavior of mesoporous bioactive glasses

Abstract

We report mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) with different pore architecture synthesized using the supramolecular chemical approach using acid assisted sol-gel method followed by evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process. The surfactant of non-ionic block co-polymer used in the present work act as structure directing agent (SDA) with varying amount, which brings different textural properties. As prepared glasses possess wormhole-like mesostructure with different textural characteristics and it varies with surfactant concentrations. The pristine MBGs have been characterized by various analytical techniques before and after immersing in simulated body fluid (SBF). The textural properties show non-monotonous variations with varying the surfactant concentrations. We have quantified the various structural species present in the glass sample by using local structural probe such as nuclear magnetic resonance technique. Invitro studies on the MBGs revealed the influence of textural characteristics on the formation of nano-crystalline hydroxycarbonated apatite (HCA) layer. The biodegradability is largely related to the pore architecture and it affects the biocompatibility as well as bone formation. In-vitro studies reveals that there are serious negative effects that have been observed in the case of larger pore sized samples due to rapid degradation. We found that MBG with pore sizes of few nano meters exhibit favorable biocompatibility in vitro behavior and found to be promising candidate in the field of biomaterials including tissue regeneration and drug storage.