In vitro evaluation and mechanical studies of MgO added borophosphate glasses for biomedical applications

The objective of current research is to evaluate the bioactive and tribological properties of the MgO doped borophosphate glass system. The glass system constituted of 40% B₂O₃ - (20-x) % CaO – 25% Li₂O – 15% P₂O₅ – x % MgO (mol%), x = 0, 0.5, 01, 02, 03 and synthesized using the melt quench technique. In-vitro bioactivity was determined using simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37 °C with time intervals of 7, 14 and 21 days. Hydroxyapatite (HA) layer formation was assessed using characterization techniques like XRD, FTIR and FESEM-EDS for structural, functional and morphological analysis respectively. The effect of MgO content on microhardness and tribological properties was studied by making cylindrical shaped glass samples. MTT assay was performed for various doses (62.5–1000 μg/ml) of glass dilutions using MG-63 cell line. In-vitro bioactivity showed higher Ca/P ratio with increase in MgO content after 21 days of immersion. MgO content seemed to promote degradation of glass due to formation of open structure in glass network. Borophosphate glass having 3% MgO exhibited the highest hardness value of 5.79(±0.08) GPa with minimum specific wear rate of 1.86 × 10^?11 and 1.38 × 10^?11 m³/Nm at a load of 15 N and 20 N respectively. MTT assay demonstrated the non-toxic behaviour of glass samples even at a higher dose level of 1000 μg/ml which confirmed its biocompatible behaviour. The study suggests that produced MgO doped borophosphate glass exhibits essential characteristics of bioactive materials and hence could be effective in bone filling and wound healing applications.