Highly porous 45S5 bioglass-derived glass-ceramic scaffolds by gelcasting of foams

Several types of alloplastic (artificial) grafts, known as scaffolds, have been developed for the treatment of bone defects caused by trauma and/or infection. Among the materials used to manufacture scaffolds, 45S5 Bioglass is a bioceramic that arouses significant interest due to ease preparation and excellent bioactive response. Among the various processing methods cited in the literature for the production of bioactive glass scaffolds, gelcasting is a method that produces macroporous structures, with interconnected and spherical pores and high mechanical strength. However, in the literature there are few reports about bioactive glass scaffolds produced by gelcasting method. In this work, 45S5-BG scaffolds were produced by gelcasting of foams varying the amount of foaming agent in order to optimize the desirable characteristics of the scaffold. The scaffolds show porosity between 70 and 86% and compressive strength of 1.22 +/- 0.7 and 0.78 +/- 0.4 MPa. In the biological studies, all 45S5-BG scaffolds showed cytocompatibility towards human osteoblastic cells and bioactive properties using SBF assay.