Development of Galatite-Eggshell membranes and bioactive glass scaffolds for their use in bone tissue engineering

Treatment of large bone defects is one of the most challenging tasks in orthopedics, an estimated of 2.2 million bone grafting procedures are performed worldwide per year. Bone tissue engineering has an increasing interest in the development and construction of analogous bone grafts with osteoconductive, bioactive, biodegradation, and mechanical properties. Bioactive glasses (BG) are being utilized as biocompatible, biodegradable materials and collagen (Col) represents more than 90 % of the bone organic matrix, both materials have shown excellent properties in bone repair. The galatite is frequently named artificial bone and is a thermostable polymer obtained with casein-formaldehyde.

The current study involves the fabrication of novel 3D scaffolds conformed by galatite (Gal) obtained from goat milk-casein, bioactive glass (BG) synthesized by sol-gel technique, and as a source of collagen (Col), they were used eggshell inner membranes. Scaffolds were elaborated by the solvent-casting technique and each phase was characterized by FTIR, XRD, and SEM evaluations; also bioactivity and biodegradability of the composites were in-vitro evaluated by immersion into simulated body fluid (SBF) and phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS). Mechanical characterization under compression forces was taken in the CellScale Univert (R) equipment to observe the strain-stress curves. Obtained results, make the materials valuable in various biomedical applications, including bone tissue engineering, drug delivery systems, and implants.