Synthesis of SiO₂ and CaO rich calcium silicate systems via sol-gel process: bioactivity, biocompatibility, and drug delivery tests.

Silica and calcium silicate amorphous materials, mixed with sodium ampicillin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, have been synthesized by sol-gel method. The amorphous nature of the gels was ascertained by X-ray diffraction analysis. The bioactivity of the synthesized materials has been put into evidence by the appearance of a crystal of hydroxyapatite on the surface of the samples soaked in a fluid simulating the composition of the human blood plasma, as detected through FTIR measurements and SEM micrographs. The present work refers to a series of in-vitro biocompatibility tests, which has been performed on silicate and CaO rich calcium silicate gel-glasses, to study the cell behavior when seeded on 1 cm(2) material fragments, introduced into an in-vitro culture system. 3T3 cell lines have been used and the viability has been evaluated by WST-8 test. The composition of the adopted glasses can be expressed by the following general formula: x CaO• (1 - x) SiO2 with x = 0.00; 0.30; 0.40; 0.50; 0.60. Subsequently, release kinetics in a simulate body fluid (SBF) has been investigated. The amount of sodium ampicillin released has been detected by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The release kinetics has appeared to occur in more than one stage. All data have shown that those materials could be used as drug delivery bioactive systems.