title: Investigation of bioactivity, biocompatibility and thermal behavior of sol-gel silica glass containing a high PEG percentage.
abstract: SiO2/PEG organic-inorganic hybrid materials, which contain 60 or 70 weight percentage of PEG, were synthesized by the sol-gel technique. The materials were characterized and subjected to various tests to assess their application in the biomedical field. The evaluation of their morphology by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirms the homogeneity of the samples on the nanometer scale. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) indicated that the two components of the hybrids (SiO2 and PEG) are linked by hydrogen bonds. This feature makes them class I hybrids. Simultaneous thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) was used to investigate their thermal behavior and to establish the best temperatures for their pre-treatment. The fundamental properties that a material must have to be used in the biomedical field are biocompatibility and bioactivity. The formation of a hydroxyapatite layer was observed on the hybrid surface by SEM/EDX and FTIR after soaking in simulated body fluid. This indicates that the materials are able to bond to bone tissue. Moreover, the biocompatibility of SiO2/PEG hybrids was assessed by performing WST-8 cytotoxicity tests on fibroblast cell NIH 3T3 after 24h of exposure. The cytotoxicity tests highlight that the cell viability is affected by the polymer percentage. The results showed that the synthesized materials were bioactive and biocompatible. Therefore, the results obtained are encouraging for the use of the obtained hybrids in dental or orthopedic applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, Second University of Naples, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy. Electronic address: michelina.catauro@unina2.it.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Catauro
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, Second University of Naples, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Renella
authors.affiliation: Department of Industrial and Information Engineering, Second University of Naples, Via Roma 29, 81031 Aversa, Italy.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Papale
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic and Applied Science for Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via del Castro Laurenziano 7, Building RM017, I-00161 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vecchio Ciprioti
mesh_terms: D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; C000595209:polyethylene glycol 1000
keywords: Bioactivity; Biocompatibility; SiO(2)/PEG organic/inorganic hybrid nanocomposites; Sol–gel; TG/DTA