Structure, biodegradation behavior and cytotoxicity of alkali-containing alkaline-earth phosphosilicate glasses

• Na+ did not induce significant structural changes in chemical Si environment.
• Sodium is more prone to affect the chemical environment around P.
• Increasing Na+/Mg2 + ratios hinder bio-mineralization and chemical durability.
• Alkali-containing glasses confer cyto-toxicity to the cell culture medium.

We report on the effect of sodium on the structure, chemical degradation and bioactivity of glasses in the CaO–MgO–SiO2–P2O5–CaF2 system. The 29Si and 31P magic angle spinning-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of melt-quenched glasses with varying Na2O/MgO ratios exhibit a silicate glass network with the dominance of Q2(Si) units and phosphorus mainly forming orthophosphate species. Sodium incorporation in the glasses did not induce a significant structural change in the silicate network, while it did influence the phosphate environment due to its lower ionic field strength in comparison with that of magnesium. The apatite forming ability of glasses has been investigated by immersion of glass powders in simulated body fluid (SBF) for time durations varying between 1 h and 7 days while their chemical degradation has been studied in Tris–HCl in accordance with ISO-10993-14. Increasing Na+/Mg2 + ratio caused a decrease in the chemical durability of glasses and in the apatite forming ability especially during initial steps of interaction between glass and SBF solution. The cellular responses were observed in vitro on bulk glass samples using mouse-derived pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cell line. The preliminary study suggested that the increasing alkali-concentration in glasses led to cytotoxicity in the cell culture medium.