Influence of fluoride for enhancing bioactivity onto phosphate based glasses

Phosphate based glasses 48P2O5-(32-x)CaO-20Na2O-xCaF2 (x = 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4 mol%, hereafter, termed as FPG0, FPG1, FPG2, FPG3 and FPG4 respectively) with different fluoride content were prepared by keeping the ratio of P/Ca as 3. To study the influence of fluoride on the physico-chemical properties and bioactivity of phosphate based glasses, various experimental analysis such as density, elastic moduli, micro hardness, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, cytotoxicity, pH variations during in vitro studies by soaking in simulated body fluid as a function of fluoride content were carried out. A variation in density, micro hardness and elastic moduli is noted for the glass samples as a function of its fluoride content. X-ray diffraction pattern, Fourier Transform Infra-Red spectra, scanning electron microscope images and energy dispersed X-ray spectra confirmed the fluoroapatite forming ability on all the fluoride added glass samples. The elastic moduli, microhardness, rich formation of FAp and non-toxic nature of glass sample FPG3 showed the better bioactivity than all the other samples. The observed cell growth of human osteoblast like cell lines proved the non-toxic nature of glass sample FPG3. Thus the observed results confirms the glass sample with 3 mol% of CaF2 content is suitable for implant applications.