Novel polyvinyl alcohol-bioglass 45S5 based composite nanofibrous membranes as bone scaffolds

Composite nanofibrous membranes based on sol-gel derived 45SiO2 24.5CaO 24.5 Na2O 6 P2O5 (bioglass, BG) and 43SiO2 24.5CaO 24.5 Na2O 6 P2O5 2Fe2O3 (magnetic bioglass, MBG) blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) have been electrospun. These low cost membranes were mostly amorphous in structure with minor crystalline (sodium calcium phosphate) precipitates. All membranes were biodegradable. Among these, the composites exhibited higher tensile strength, better proliferation of human osteosarcoma MG63 cells and higher alkaline phosphatase enzyme activity than the bare PVA membrane, indicating their potential in bone tissue engineering. The magnetic PVA-MBG scaffold was also found to be a promising candidate for magnetic hyperthermia application.