Investigation of silica-iron-phosphate glasses for tissue engineering

Phosphate-based glasses have previously been examined for tissue engineering applications, however they degrade rapidly in solution reducing its pH to below 5. This study presents a series of phosphate-based glass compositions that degrade at a lower rate, allowing the pH to remain close to neutral in cell culture medium. The compositions investigated were P50Ca30Na(15-x)Fe5Si(x) where x = 0, 1, 3 and 5 mol%. The dissolution and effect on pH in distilled water and cell culture medium, and ion release in distilled water were investigated over 7 days and MG63 cell attachment to glass fibres was observed after 24 hrs. Dissolution was much slower in cell culture medium (3% mass loss) compared to distilled water (50% mass loss), due to the large quantity of ions and pH buffer present. After 7 days, in cell culture medium the pH remained between 7 and 8.5, however the pH in distilled water fell to between 4 and 3, with the final pH being lower the greater the SiO2 content. Increasing the SiO2 content of the glass resulted in an increase in dissolution rate whilst the pH was maintained at 7 in cell culture medium. The attachment and spreading of MG63 cells was observed on all compositions. These glass compositions may therefore be suitable for tissue engineering applications.