Calcium phosphate formation on sol-gel-derived bioactive glasses in vitro.

When soluble salts are used in the sol-gel processing of bioactive glasses, the resulting materials are not homogeneous. To produce homogeneous gel-glasses, a sol-gel method using all alkoxide precursors was developed. In this work the in vitro bioactivity of the new all-alkoxide gel-glasses is investigated. Three compositions in the system, CaO-P2O5-SiO2, were studied. Solid samples were soaked in Tris buffer and simulated body fluid (SBF), and the rate of formation of hydroxy carbonate apatite (HCA) on the surface of the glasses was measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The solutions were analyzed before and after reaction by inductively coupled plasma. All compositions studied formed a hydroxy carbonate apatite (HCA) layer within 8 h in both test solutions. The HCA layer grew rapidly when SBF was used.