The development of bioactive glasses (BGs) is of great importance for advanced healthcare applications since Larry Hench discoverd the first bioactive glass more than 50 years ago.[1] BGs exhibit potential for osteogenesis, vascularization, as well as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects.[2,3] Moreover, the introduction of mesoporosity leads to even better bioactivities in vitro. In the last several decades, mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) have provided interesting possibilities for drug and biomolecular delivery due to their excellent surface area, pore volume and pore size, MBGs can also be combined with trace elements to enhance specific biological functions.[4] More recently, bismuth began to come into the sight of researchers for biomedical application, due to its following advantages: being non-toxic and cost-effective exhibiting, ideal antibacterial effect and bone regeneration potential, thus Bi can be used in combination cancer therapy and biosensing. [5]

In this study, the effects of different bismuth doping amounts on the physical and chemical properties, and the effect of adding Pluronic F127 (generic name, poloxamer 407) on MBGs were studied. The results indicated that with the increase of bismuth content, MBGs gradually formed crystals, and the addition of F127 significantly increased the specific surface area, pore size and mesoporous uniformity of MBGs. We present thus a new option for preparation of bismuth doped bioactive glasses for tissue engineering.

[1] LL Hench, et al Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 1971, 5(6), 117-141.

[2] RM Day, et al Biomaterials 2004, 25(27), 5857-5866.

[3] K Zheng, et al Acta Biomaterialia, 2021, 133, 168-186.

[4] Z Neščáková, et al Bioactive Materials, 2019, 4, 312-321.

[5] MA Shahbazi, et al Chemical Society Reviews, 2020, 49, 1253-1321.