Agro waste as a source of bioactive glass for targeted drug delivery and bone implantation

The present work describes the synthesis of biocompatibe alkali-free glasses utilizing the agricultural waste rice husk and eggshells. A series of glasses with basic composition SiO2-P2O5-MgO-CaO has been synthesized using melt-quench technique, where P2O5 is partially replaced by MnO. These glasses are characterized to assess their in-vitro reactivity with the help of X-Ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy techniques before and after soaking in the simulated body fluid solution. Further, drug loading and release studies are carried out with the help of UV-Visible spectrophotometer. Wherefore, a multivariable non-linear regression model has been developed to predict the release rate at different manganese oxide concentrations. The proposed model shows a high Pearson correlation coefficient between the observed and predicted absorbance. These results designate that low-cost agro-waste derived alkali-free glasses have potential in medical applications in drug delivery as well as it helps in environmental pollution management.