Molecular level-based bioactive glass-poly (caprolactone) hybrids monoliths with porous structure for bone tissue repair

Molecular level-based silicate bioactive glass (BG)-polymer hybrid materials have attracted much attention in bone tissue regeneration, due to their biomimetic structure and bioactivity. However, few successes have been achieved for preparing synthetic biopolymers-based bioactive glass hybrid materials, because of their non-miscible characteristic. Here, the molecular level scale bioactive glass-poly (epsilon-caprolactone) (MBG-PCL) hybrid monoliths with porous surface structure were successfully fabricated by a polydimethylsiloxane modified sol-gel technique. The as-prepared hybrid monolith presented a porous structure and crack-free morphology. The in vitro bioactivity test showed that the novel MBG-PCL hybrid structure exhibited high apatite-forming ability in simulated body fluid (SBF). The composition, porous structure, as well as high bioactivity of the hybrid monoliths make them a promising candidate as bioactive implants for bone tissue regeneration. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.