This review focuses on recent advances in the development and use of nanoscale silicate bioactive glasses for medical applications. In the context of materials for bone substitution, dental applications, and bone tissue engineering, nanoscale bioactive glasses have been gaining attention due to their expected superior osteoconductivity when compared with conventional (micrometer-sized) bioactive glass materials. A detailed overview of recent developments in the field of nanoscale bioactive glasses will be given, including a summary of common fabrication methods and diverse application areas which include tissue engineering scaffolds and coatings, drug delivery devices, and dentistry. The nanofeatures characteristic of this type of bioactive glasses and the possibilities to expand their use in biomedical applications (nanomedicine) are highlighted.

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Nanosized bioactive glass (NBG) particles are attractive materials for bone repair because of their ability to enhance bone formation and to chemically bond to the surrounding bone tissue. In recent years, composites of biopolymers and NBG particles have been developed for bone tissue engineering due to their increased bioactivity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In this paper, the authors review current knowledge regarding polymer/NBG composites, including nanoscale‐related features and ion‐release effects of bioactive glass (BG) with respect to osteogenic and angiogenic responses in vivo and in vitro; the authors also focus on the techniques used to fabricate these nanocomposites. Additionally, this review discusses recent developments in the use of nanocomposites for tissue engineering and represents a literature update, as well an expansion, of previously published articles on this topic.

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The current research focuses on the findings of an investigation on optimizing of an electrospun antibacterial gelatin nanocomposite membrane for bone tissue engineering applications. For this reason, soluble starch coated silver nanoparticles (Ag‐NPs) and bioactive glass particles (BG) were incorporated in to gelatin (Gt) to fabricate Gt/Ag‐NPs/BG nanocomposite membranes. Employing Box‐Behnken design, second‐order models have been successfully obtained to evaluate the statistical significance of individual and interaction effects of applied voltage, tip‐to‐collector distance (TCD), and flow rate on fiber diameter. There was a reasonable agreement between the regression R2 value (0.9542), R2 predicted value (0.8768), and the R2 adjusted value (0.9286) across the entire factor space with identical observations for the experimental and model values. Under optimum conditions (applied voltage of 26 kV, TCD of 180 mm, and flow rate of 0.5 mL/h), the nanocomposite membrane with similar fiber size of bone tissue extracellular matrix can be fabricated with the predicted value of 557 nm obtained by the proposed model. The optimized nanofiber membrane was fabricated under these conditions and average fiber diameter of this membrane was found as 472 ± 94 nm. The characterization studies of this nanofiber suggest that obtained nanocomposite is a potential candidate for bone tissue engineering applications.

An electrospinning procedure was carried out to fabricate gelatin/poly(ϵ‐caprolactone) (Gt/PCL) nanofibers. Response surface methodology based on a three‐level, four‐variable Box‐Behnken design technique was used to model the resultant diameter of the as‐spun nanofibers. A second‐order model was obtained to describe the relationship between the fiber diameter and the electrospinning parameters, namely Gt concentration, PCL concentration, content of acetic acid in the overall solvent, and content of Gt solution in the blend solution. The individual and the interactive effects of these parameters on the fiber diameter were determined. Validation experiments verified the accuracy of the model which provided a simple and effective method for fabricating nanofibers with a controllable and predictable fiber diameter.

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