Evaluation of copper incorporation to bioactive glasses and its effects on their bioactivity and angiogenic potential

• Grant number: 17/21037-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2018
• End date: June 10, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Edgar Dutra Zanotto
• Grantee: Nicoli Bortolin Lucci
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07793-6 - CEPIV - Center for Teaching, Research and Innovation in Glass, AP.CEPID

Abstract

Since the development of the first bioactive glass by Larry Hench et al. in 1969, several applications for this biomaterial have been investigated due to its peculiar interactions with the human body. Bioglasses are osteoconductive and osteoinductive, so their first clinical use was as bone grafts in orthopedic and dental applications. With research advances, it has been found that these materials could also be used for the regeneration of soft tissues, such as skin, connective tissue etc; specially if they were classified as highly bioactivity or Class A bioglasses, like 45S5 and the new glass F18.F18 was developed by researchers at LaMaV/DEMa-UFSCar and the results showed that this glass is highly reactive and presents bactericidal properties, which makes it an ideal glass to be used in the regeneration of soft tissues, such as skin, gums and nerves. Nowadays, research shows that the formation of blood vessels is a critical step for a fast tissue regeneration process. So, efforts on understanding bioglasses angiogenic potential are increasing drastically, mainly with the incorporation of different elements, such as copper, to bioglasses' composition . When copper is added to bioglass, it can induce hypoxia in the surrounding area where the glass is implanted, which leads to the activation of pro-angiogenesis genes and a higher rate of blood vessels neoformation. But, until now, a gradual and systematic incorporation of copper in the bioglass 45S5 and the effects of the incorporation of this element in the physico-chemical and biological properties of the glass has still not been studied. In this context, the objective of this project is to investigate the effects on the gradual addition of copper to Bioglass 45S5 and F18. These new glasses will be characterized regarding their thermal and biological properties, by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyzes, in vitro assays with SBF solution, infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and in vitro assays with endothelial cells (HUVEC) will be performed.