Hydrogel/bioactive glass composites for bone regeneration applications: Synthesis and characterisation

article Due tothe deficiencies of currentcommerciallyavailable biologicalbonegrafts,alternative bonegraft substitutes havecome totheforefrontof tissue engineering inrecenttimes.The mainchallenge for scientists inmanufactur- ing bone graft substitutes is to obtain a scaffold that has sufficient mechanical strength and bioactive properties to promote formation of new tissue. The ability to synthesise hydrogel based composite scaffolds using photopolymerisation has been demonstrated in this study. The prepared hydrogel based composites were characterised using techniques including Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), rheological studies and compression testing. In addition, gel fraction, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), porosity and swelling studies of the composites were carried out. It was found that these novel hydrogel bioglass composite formulations did not display the inherent brittleness that is typically associated with bioactive glass based bone graft materials and exhibited enhanced biomechanical properties compared to the polyethylene glycol hydrogel scaffolds along. Together, the combination of enhanced mechanical properties and the deposition of apatite onthe surfaceofthese hydrogelbased compositesmaketheman ideal candidate as bone graft substitutes in cancellous bone defects or low load bearing applications. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.