Temperature-responsive bioactive glass/polymer hybrids allow for tailoring of ion release

Intelligent biomaterials react to their surrounding conditions, and hybrid materials are acknowledged for their remarkable customizability, achieved through the meticulous control of nanoscale interactions between organic and inorganic phases. Bioactive glasses (BG) are used clinically to regenerate bone due to their degradability, ion release, and capacity to stimulate the formation of new body tissue. In our study, we developed a core-shell hybrid system using sol-gel derived BG nano particles as the core and poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) as the shell. This approach aims to combine the therapeutic ion release of BG with the temperature-responsive properties of PNIPAM. Our size analysis by dynamic light scattering at varying temperatures shows the formation of BG aggregates driven by the coil-to-globule transition of PNIPAM on the BG surface. This transition also affected the ion release from the core-shell system through an increase in ion transport through the porous hybrid network. Our study therefore illustrates the ability to adjust the dissolution properties of the core-shell system via surrounding temperature and, thus, control the release of Ca ions from the BG.