Fabrication and in vitro characterization of macroporous WS2/ bioactive glass scaffolds for biomedical applications

In the study, tungsten disulfide nanoparticle-containing (0.1 to 2 weight%) macroporous bioactive glass composites were prepared by polymer foam replication method. Their morphological, structural, mechanical properties as well as in vitro bioactivity and cytotoxicity against osteoblastic cells were investigated. Drug release behavior of gentamicin-loaded composite scaffolds was also analyzed in phosphate-buffered saline. Results indicated that the formation of tungsten trioxide/tungsten disulfide heterostructures in sintered glass samples contains tungsten disulfide at high concentrations. Incorporation of tungsten disulfide nanoparticles (at 0.5 weight%) to the bioactive glass matrix as reinforcing material improved the compressive strength of the composites through stress transfer mechanism. Additionally, tungsten disulfide addition enhanced the in vitro bioactivity and biocompatibility of the scaffolds at a specified concentration range. Results also revealed that the presence of tungsten disulfide nanoparticles did not affect the drug release behavior significantly. All of the composite scaffolds examined in the study demonstrated burst release in the first 24 h. Gentamicin release kinetics were found to be best fitted with the first-order kinetic model for all of the scaffolds. It was concluded that composite scaffolds fabricated in the study have potential to be used in bone tissue engineering applications.