Surface Functionalization of 45S5 Bioactive Glass Scaffolds with Phytotherapeutic Agents for Tissue Engineering Applications

 

Investigator: Patricia Derr (Bachelor student) 

Patricia Derr

 

Supervisors: Irem Uenalan, Prof. Aldo R. Boccaccini


Bioactive glasses are well-known for their excellent osteoconductivity and bioactivity for bone tissue engineering applications [1]. However, the infection risk of biomaterials in bone tissue engineering applications is still a major clinical concern. Therefore, phytotherapeutic agents are being investigated as analternative approach to improve antibacterial properties of bioactive glasses [2, 3].Over thousand years plant extracts have been used by humans due to their antibacterial activity, inflammatory and antioxidant potential. In this Bachelor thesis, the aim is to produce and characterize phytotherapeutic agents loaded 45S5 bioactive glass (BG) scaffolds, following previous research in our Institute [3]. For this propose, 45S5 bioactive glass scaffolds will be fabricated by the foam replica method [1] and then the surface functionalization process will be applied [3]. The fabricated scaffolds will be investigated regarding their morphological, chemical, mechanical, bioactive and antibacterial properties.

[1] Chen, Q. Z., et al., 45S5 Bioglass®-derived glass–ceramic scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Biomaterials 27 (2006) 2414–2425.

[2] Verné, E., et  al., Surface Functionalization of Bioactive Glasses. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A 90 (2009) 981–992.

[3] Reiter, T., et al., Bioactive glass based scaffolds coated with gelatin for the sustained release of icariin,  Bioactive Mater. 4 (2019) 1-7