Kinetics and mechanisms of the conversion of silicate (45S5), borate, and borosilicate glasses to hydroxyapatite in dilute phosphate solutions.

Bioactive glasses with controllable conversion rates to hydroxyapatite (HA) may provide a novel class of scaffold materials for bone tissue engineering. The objective of the present work was to comprehensively characterize the conversion of a silicate bioactive glass (45S5), a borate glass, and two intermediate borosilicate glass compositions to HA in a dilute phosphate solution at 37 degrees Celsius. The borate glass and the borosilicate glasses were derived from the 45S5 glass by fully or partially replacing the SiO(2) with B(2)O(3). Higher B(2)O(3) content produced a more rapid conversion of the glass to HA and a lower pH value of the phosphate solution. Whereas the borate glass was fully converted to HA in less than 4 days, the silicate (45S5) and borosilicate compositions were only partially converted even after 70 days, and contained residual SiO(2) in a Na-depleted core. The concentration of Na(+) in the phosphate solution increased with reaction time whereas the PO(4) (3-) concentration decreased, both reaching final limiting values at a rate that increased with the B(2)O(3) content of the glass. However, the Ca(2+) concentration in the solution remained low, below the detection limit of atomic absorption, throughout the reaction. Immersion of the glasses in a mixed solution of K(2)HPO(4) and K(2)CO(3) produced a carbonate-substituted HA but the presence of the K(2)CO(3) had little effect on the kinetics of conversion to HA. The kinetics and mechanisms of the conversion process of the four glasses to HA are compared and used to develop a model for the process.