Cytotoxicity evaluation, porosity and physicochemical study of bioactive glass nanocomposites for tissue engineering

Nanoscale bioactive glasses have been developed as regenerative materials for tissue engineering, due to their biocompatibility, osteoconductivity, antibacterial properties and abilities for hard tissue formation. In this work, nano bioactive glass/alginate (n-BG/Alg) and nano bioactive glass/polyethylene glycole (n-BG/PEG) as nanocomposite scaffolds were synthesized via facile method and physicochemical properties compared with nano bioactive glass. To characterize the nanocomposites, Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), X-ray powder Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), and Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX) were performed. The results showed desired interaction of polymers with nano bioactive glass and the size was estimated. The swelling ability and porosity of the scaffolds were evaluated and the results showed lower swelling and porosity percentage for composites compared to the nano bioactive glass scaffold. The cytocompatibility of nanocomposites were also evaluated using Methyl Thiazolyl-Tetrazolium (MTT) (3-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2, 5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide) assay. The doses of 5, 15, 25, 50, and 100 μg/mL of n-BG, n-BG/PEG and n-BG/Alg were studied to determine the survival rate of Human Gingival Fibroblast (HGF) cells. The results showed a significant difference (p˂0.001) compared to the positive control group in high concentrations during 48 hours. The MTT assay confirms that the scaffolds have biocompatibility.