Investigating the effect of TiO on the structure and biocompatibility of bioactive glass.

Titanium (Ti ) containing materials have been widely used in medical applications due to its associated bioactivity in vivo. This study investigates the replacement of Si with Ti within the system SiO -Na O-CaO-P O to determine its influence on glass structure. This strategy was conducted in order to control the glass solubility to further improve the cellular response. Ti incorporation was found to have little influence on the glass transition temperature (T  = 520 ± 8°C) and magic angle spinning-nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR) shifts (-80 ppm) up to additions of 18 wt %. However, at 30 wt % the T increased to 600°C and MAS-NMR spectra shifted to -88 ppm. There was also an associated reduction in glass solubility as a function of Ti incorporation as determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy where Si (1649-44 mg/L) and Na (892-36 mg/L) levels greatly reduced while Ca (3-5 mg/L) and PO43- (2-7 mg/L) levels remained relatively unchanged. MC3T3 osteoblasts were used for cell culture testing and it was determined that the Ti glasses increased cell viability and also facilitated greater osteoblast adhesion and proliferation to the glass surface compared to the control glass. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 104B: 1703-1712, 2016.