Bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics with tailored composition

Title: Bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics with tailored composition

Description: Silica-based glasses can form a chemical bond with both hard and soft tissues. This peculiar characteristic is due to a complex mechanism involving ion exchange with the physiological fluids and to a subsequent nucleation and crystallization of an hydroxyapatite (HA) layer. The HA layer is recognized as bone mineral by the surrounding biological species and thus a strong chemical bond forms between the biomaterial and the nearby tissue. This mechanism is called bioactivity: it can be investigated in vitro by soaking the glasses in a simulated body fluid (SBF) obtaining a recognized index of the biomaterial ability of forming a chemical bond with bone in vivo. Recently it was postulated that the ionic dissolution products released by the glasses and glass-ceramics stimulate the genes of cells toward a path of regeneration and self-repair. Moreover, the composition of glasses and glass-ceramics can be easily modified during materials synthesis or by means of chemical treatment (e.g. ion-exchange), introducing ions having therapeutic effect (stimulation the expression of several genes of osteoblastic cells, angiogenesis, antibacterial and inflammatory effects).Bioactive glasses can be prepared by melt processing or sol-gel technique, to produce bulk samples of various size and shape, micro and nano powders, coatings and macroporous structures. Tailored compositions have been optimized at POLITO, by doping silica-based bioactive glasses and glass-ceramics with several element (Mg, F, B, Sr, Ag, Cu, Mn…) with specific actions on both bioactivity and cells proliferation and growth.

Picture(s)

Contact(s)

enrica.verne@polito.it

Recent reference(s)

Baino F. et al., Biomedical Glasses, 3 (2017) 1-17, doi.org/10.1515/bglass-2017-0001

Miola M. et al., Materials Science and Engineering C 38 (2014) 107–118, doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2014.01.04

Vernè E. et al., TO2010A001083.

Vernè E. et al., PCT/IT2008/000350.

Vernè E. et al.,TO2007A000373 2007

Vernè E. et al., TO2007A000660 2007

Funding

- Regional Project on Applied Scientific reserach, 2004, Nanotechnologies and Nanoscience sector: “Materiali nanostrutturati biocompatibili per applicazioni Biomediche”;

- PRIN 2003 “Preparazione e caratterizzazione di materiali bioattivi a base di silice”;

- PRIN 2006 “Sintesi e caratterizzazione di sistemi ossidici a base di silice”.