Fabrication and biological properties of magnetic bioactive glass nanoparticles

Different compositions of bioactive glass nanoparticles have been investigated for various applications, including cancer treatment, drug delivery, bone regeneration, etc. However, targeting of bioactive glass nanoparticles to desired tissues still remains to be a challenge. In this research, sol-gel synthesized bioactive glass and super -paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) were combined using two different approaches to obtain magnetic bioactive glass nanoparticle composites. In the first approach SPIONs were embedded into the bioactive glass nanoparticles (SEBG), and in the second approach SPIONs were deposited onto them as a thin shell (SDBG). The dimensions of the nanoparticles were calculated to be 180 +/- 9 and 420 +/- 10 nm for SEBG and SDBG, respectively. The magnetizations of the nanoparticles were measured to be 4 and 9 emu/g for SEBG and SDBG, respectively. In vitro bioactivity experiments showed hydroxyapatite formation on both nanoparticles after soaking them in simulated body fluid (SBF) for 14 days. Additionally, bone cells proliferated and remained viable up to 7 days of culture in vitro upon their interaction with SEBG and SDBG nanoparticles. Similar viability results were also observed once experiments were carried out in the presence of 0.4T external static magnetic field to better mimic cellular response under magnetic targeting. Cumulatively, these results demonstrated that the synthesized magnetic bioactive glass nanoparticles were superparamagnetic, promoted bone cell viability in-dependent of the presence of magnetic field and exhibited bioactive properties.