Abstract
Development of ion-releasing implantable biomaterials is a valuable approach for advanced medical therapies. In the effort of tackling this challenge, we explored the feasibility of porous bioceramic scaffolds releasing copper ions, which are potentially able to elicit angiogenetic and antibacterial effects. First, small amounts of CuO were incorporated in the base silicate glass during melting and the obtained powders were further processed to fabricate glass–ceramic scaffolds by sponge replica method followed by sinter crystallization. As the release of copper ions from these foams in simulated body fluid (SBF) was very limited, a second processing strategy was developed. Silicate glass–ceramic scaffolds were coated with a layer of Cu-doped mesoporous glass, which exhibited favorable textural properties (ultrahigh specific surface area >200 m2/g, mesopore size about 5 nm) for modulating the release of copper. All the produced scaffolds, containing biocompatible crystals of wollastonite (CaSiO3), revealed high stability in a biological environment. Furthermore, the materials had adequate compressive strength (>10 MPa) for allowing safe manipulation during surgery. Overall, the results achieved in the present work suggest that these Cu-doped glass-derived scaffolds show promise for biomedical application and motivate further investigation of their suitability from a biological viewpoint.
Highlights
Over the last few years, understanding the biological role played by ionic dissolution products released from implantable biomaterials has become one of the most challenging topics in the context of tissue engineering applications
Small amounts of CuO were incorporated in the base silicate glass during melting and the obtained powders were further processed to fabricate glass–ceramic scaffolds by sponge replica method followed by sinter crystallization
Silicate glass–ceramic scaffolds were coated with a layer of Cu-doped mesoporous glass, which exhibited favorable textural properties for modulating the release of copper
Summary
Over the last few years, understanding the biological role played by ionic dissolution products released from implantable biomaterials has become one of the most challenging topics in the context of tissue engineering applications. Bioactive glasses are ideal matrices for embedding therapeutic metallic ions that can be added during the glass synthesis via either the melt-quenching route or the sol-gel method. Comprehensive overviews of these topics have been recently reported by different research groups [6,7,8,9]. Some metallic ions can take part in multiple biological processes and, thereby, are potentially able to exert a multifunctional therapeutic action. A typical example is represented by copper, which is able to both elicit an antimicrobial effect and to stimulate angiogenesis. Copper ions were shown to promote angiogenesis both in vitro and in vivo through implementing hypoxia-like conditions, which are followed by upregulation of various matrix metalloproteinases (e.g., MMP-2)
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