Magnesium borate-glasses for biomedical application: Physicochemical and in vitro bioactive properties, antibacterial activity and cell viability

Borate bioactive glasses doped with magnesium oxide (MgO) were synthetized by melt-quenching method and evaluated their physicochemical and in vitro bioactive properties. The glasses were characterized by volumetric density, DTA, XRD and FTIR techniques. In vitro bioactivity was evaluated by SBF immersion test. Cytocompatibility tests were performed on RAW-247 murine macrophage cells. Antibacterial activity was evaluated by the agar disk diffusion method. The XRD results confirm the amorphous nature of the glasses. FTIR analysis showed that the MgO addition modifies the glass network, causing changes in the volumetric density, molar volume, and thermal properties. The in vitro bioactivity was confirmed by XRD, FTIR, and SEM-EDS analyses; all samples showed the formation of biological apatites. All samples are non-cytotoxic and presented good antibacterial activity against S. aureus and P. aeruginosa bacteria. Therefore, all samples are good candidates for biomedical applications, mainly in bone regeneration.