Characterization, and antibacterial properties of novel silver releasing nanocomposite scaffolds fabricated by the gas foaming/salt-leaching technique

Abstract

The main aim of the work was the fabrication of novel silver releasing nanocomposite scaffolds, for bone treatment, by the gas foaming/particulate-leaching technique. Silver doped bioactive glass nanoparticles were used as a filler, to provide the scaffolds with bioactivity, as well as anti-bacterial properties. Nanocomposite scaffolds containing 0, 20 and 40 wt% glass contents were prepared and coded as PAg0, PAg20 and PAg40, respectively. The scaffolds were characterized by SEM/EDXA, FTIR and TGA. Examination of SEM microphotographs showed that, the produced scaffolds had well interconnected structures. For PAg0, PAg20 and PAg40, the maximum pore sizes were about 250, 150 and 100 lm, respectively, while their porosities % were 92%, 89% and 83%, respectively. Degradation studies were carried out, by incubating the scaffolds in simulated body fluid, for a month. Results revealed the possibility to modulate and improve the degradation of the scaffolds by increasing their glass contents. The final weight losses measured for PAg0, PAg20 and PAg40 were 12.76%, 14.61% and 17.42%, respectively. On the other hand, the highest water absorption values recorded for those scaffolds were 61.89%, 240.36% and 270.87%, respectively, indicating that, the addition of glass nanoparticles to the scaffolds improved their water absorption abilities. Both PAg20 and PAg40 induced an apatite layer on their surfaces, had

<i>In vivo</i> bioactivity of porous polyetheretherketone with a foamed surface

“…Histological analysis 11) demonstrated adjacent tissue integration and bone ingrowth on the porous PEEK samples; however, in the images, a gap was observed at the interface between the solid PEEK implant and the tissue. In previous studies, salt (NaCl) porogens were used in combination with various processing methods to produce porous polymer structures [16][17][18][19] . The present cylindrical porous PEEK scaffolds were prepared using salt combined with PEEK powder and compression molded PEEK.…”

Porous shape memory polymers: Design and applications

“…Particle leaching is a fabrication technique that provides porous scaffolds with well‐interconnected cells . It consists of leaching solid particles out of a polymer system . A polymer solution is synthesized at varying solvent concentrations (5–20 wt %) .…”

Porous poly-ether ether ketone (PEEK) manufactured by a novel powder route using near-spherical salt bead porogens: Characterisation and mechanical properties

“…A number of researchers have used salt (NaCl) porogens in combination with several different processing methods to produce porous polymer structures: for instance, gas foaming [18]; concurrent electro-spinning [19], gas anti-solvent precipitation [20] and phase-separation [21], that tend to exhibit a wide range of irregularly-sized and shaped pores. Whilst good progress has been made, problems still persist with this method, owing to the demand for high quality and reproducible parts associated with the target application.…”