Performance evaluation of bioactive glass based composite hydrogel for skin tissue regeneration

Abstract

In this work sodium alginate and nano-bioactive glass (NBG) were used to create a hydrogel for tissue regeneration. Initially, a pure alginate hydrogel (ALG) and a nano-bioactive/alginate hydrogel (NBG/ALG) were created. The present approach is carried out to assess the performance of hydrogel after incorporating of NBG relative to the ALG-based hydrogel. The NBG was prepared using the sol-gel technique whereas the hydrogels were developed through chemical cross-linking. The crystalline behavior and functional groups of the NBG were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) with and without immersion in phosphate buffer saline (PBS). The reactivity of NBG was tested in-vitro using a PBS solution at different days of immersion. The hydrogels were characterized using XRD, pH, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), FTIR, tensile, and swelling test. The NBG was tested in-vitro using PBS solution at different days. The NBG showed amorphous pattern with slight crystallinity. The in-vitro testing of NBG revealed increase in pH of PBS solution which decreases gradually. After immersion in PBS, slight peak shift was observed due to phosphate buffer. The SEM micrographs of pure ALG showed slight irregularities on the surface which removed after the incorporation of NBG with uniformly distributed nanoparticles. The addition of NBG in ALG reduced the tensile strength, elongation and elastic modulus relative to pure ALG. The NBG/ALG hydrogel swells relatively more as compared to pure ALG (5.49 vs. 3.95) % which decreased afterwards.