In vitro observations of iron-doped bioactive glasses

Several in vitro tests are necessary to evaluate the biological compatibility of materials used to manufacture implants for humans or animals. These tests will indicate whether these materials can be tolerated when implanted in vivo. Since ceramic materials are suitable for coating layers, it was decided to study their performance by adding certain oxides as doping agents. This paper describes their influence in vivo in some preliminary tests and in vitro for iron trioxide only. This work attempts to ascertain the range of doping to maintain the bioactivity characteristics and in particular the influence of iron trioxide as a doping agent in the bioactive glass. To do so the adhesion of baby hamster kidney cells to bioactive glasses doped with different concentrations (2 and 4 wt%) of this compound was quantified. The base glass without iron oxide was used as a control as 0 wt% doping. In a second phase, a coating of fibronectin, a glycoprotein that plays an important role in cell binding and spreading on substrates, was quantified on the same surfaces. It was shown that the cell avidity for the surfaces of the materials increases with increased doping of iron oxide. The values are significantly higher than those observed for the base glass. Fibronectin adsorption quantification showed a similar trend, with values of adsorption similar for the doped samples and higher than that of the non-doped glass. It was demonstrated that iron trioxide induces an increase in cell adhesion capability with bioactive glass surfaces and the capability of adhesion of the fibronectin to act as a substrate on the same surfaces.