Optimization of silver-containing bioglass nanoparticles envisaging biomedical applications.

Abstract Bioglass nanoparticles (BGs) are of outmost importance in the biomedical field, because their unique characteristics, namely osteoconductivity and osteoinductivity, and also in certain conditions, angiogenic and bactericidal properties. In this work, novel bioglass nanoparticles containing silver (AgBGs) were synthesized by a sol-gel method, adopting different thermal treatments to obtain new nanoparticles with bioactive and antibacterial features. This is the first systematic study of the effect of the thermal treatment on the properties of AgBGs. The effect of the studied thermal treatments on the properties of synthesized nanoparticles was analyzed by several characterization techniques: FT-IR, XRD, S-TEM, SEM-EDS and Zeta potential. FT-IR allowed the identification of the characteristic peaks of the nanoparticles and XRD revealed the presence of the characteristic peaks of an apatite-like phase. By S-TEM analysis it was found that the produced nanoparticles are dense and have a diameter <200 nm. The SEM micrographs showed their surface morphology and Zeta potential measurements were performed to study their suspension stability. Additionally, in vitro bioactivity tests confirmed their bioactive potential and the microbiological tests evidenced their bactericidal effect. These promising AgBGs could be incorporated either in 2D or 3D structures for several biomedical applications, namely in the orthopedic and dental fields. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • A new sol-gel procedure with distinct thermal treatments for the production of AgBGs is described and characterized. • Their Zeta potential values proved their stability and also their bioactive behavior. • SEM and S-TEM results evidenced nanosized particles and EDS analysis confirmed the incorporation of Ag on these AgBGs. • XRD patterns confirmed the apatite-like phase and FTIR spectra showed characteristic peaks of the siloxane bonds. • AgBGs revealed antibacterial effect within 16 h, suggesting their potential ability to inhibit bacterial infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]