Novel Bioactive Glass/Graphene Oxide-Coated Surgical Sutures for Soft Tissue Regeneration

The combination of a commercially available PGLA (poly[glycolide-co-l-lactide]), 90:10% suture material with bioactive bioglass nanopowders (BGNs) and graphene oxide (GO)-doped BGNs offers new opportunities for the clinical application of biomaterials in soft tissue engineering. In the present experimental work, we demonstrate that GO-doped melt-derived BGNs were synthesized via the sol-gel process. After that, novel GO-doped and undoped BGNs were used to coat resorbable PGLA surgical sutures, thereby imparting bioactivity, biocompatibility, and accelerated wound healing properties to the sutures. Stable and homogeneous coatings on the surface of the sutures were achieved using an optimized vacuum sol deposition method. The phase composition, morphology, elemental characteristics, and chemical structure of uncoated and BGNs- and BGNs/GO-coated suture samples were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, associated with elemental analysis, and knot performance test. In addition, in vitro bioactivity tests, biochemical tests, and in vivo tests were performed to examine the role of BGNs and GO on the biological and histopathological properties of the coated suture samples. The results indicated that the formation of BGNs and GO was enhanced significantly on the suture surface, which allowed for enhanced fibroblast attachment, migration, and proliferation and promoted the secretion of the angiogenic growth factor to speed up wound healing. These results confirmed the biocompatibility of BGNs- and BGNs/GO-coated suture samples and the positive effect of BGNs on the behavior of L929 fibroblast cells and also showed for the first time the possibility that cells can adhere and proliferate on the BGNs/GO-coated suture samples, especially in an in vivo environment. Resorbable surgical sutures with bioactive coatings, such as those prepared herein, can be an attractive biomaterial not only for hard tissue engineering but also for clinical applications in soft tissue engineering.