Role of magnesium oxide and strontium oxide as modifiers in silicate-based bioactive glasses: Effects on thermal behaviour, mechanical properties and in-vitro bioactivity

The composition of a CaO-rich silicate bioglass (BG_Ca-Mix, in mol%: 2.3 Na2O; 2.3 K2O; 45.6 CaO; 2.6 P2O5; 47.2 SiO2) was modified by replacing a fixed 10 mol% of CaO with MgO or SrO or fifty-fifty MgO-SrO. The thermal behaviour of the modified glasses was accurately evaluated via differential thermal analysis (DTA), heating microscopy and direct sintering tests. The presence of MgO and/or SrO didn't interfere with the thermal stability of the parent glass, since all the new glasses remained completely amorphous after sintering (treatment performed at 753 °C for the glass with MgO; at 750 °C with SrO; at 759 °C with MgO and SrO). The sintered samples achieved good mechanical properties, with a Young's modulus ranging between 57.9 ± 6.7 for the MgO-SrO modified composition and 112.6 ± 8.0 GPa for the MgO-modified one. If immersed in a simulated body fluid (SBF), the modified glasses after sintering retained the strong apatite forming ability of the parent glass, in spite of the presence of MgO and/or SrO. Moreover, the sintered glasses, tested with MLO-Y4 osteocytes by means of a multi-parametrical approach, showed a good bioactivity in vitro, since neither the glasses nor their extracts caused any negative effect on cell viability or any inhibition on cell growth. The best results were achieved by the MgO-modified glasses, both BGMIX_Mg and BGMIX_MgSr, which were able to exert a strong stimulating effect on the cell growth, thus confirming the beneficial effect of MgO on the glass bioactivity.