Influences of doping mesoporous magnesium silicate on water absorption, drug release, degradability, apatite-mineralization and primary cells responses to calcium sulfate based bone cements

•The mesoporous magnesium silicate and calcium sulfate composite was fabricated.•The composite possessed good water absorption and drug release of vancomycin.•The bioactive composite could enhance the in vivo apatite formation in SBF.•The composite promoted cell adhesion, proliferation and osteogenic differentiation.

In this study, composite cements containing mesoporous magnesium silicate (m-MS) and calcium sulfate (CS) were fabricated. The results revealed that the setting time of the m-MS/CS composite cements (m-MSC) slightly prolonged with the increase of m-MS content while the compressive strength suffered a little loss. The doping of m-MS improved the water absorption, drug release (vancomycin) and degradability of the m-MSC in Tris-HCl solution (pH = 7.4). In addition, addition of m-MS facilitated the apatite-mineralization of m-MSC in simulated body fluid (SBF), indicating good bioactivity. For cell cultural experiments, the results revealed that the m-MSC promoted the cells adhesion and proliferation, and improved the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of MC3T3-E1 cells, revealing good cytocompatibility. It could be suggested that the m-MSC might be promising cements biomaterials for bone tissue regeneration.