A new 3D printed, bioactive glass may support bone growth better than existing materials, according to a recent study in ACS Nano.
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The paper introduces a novel bioactive glass that outperformed both standard glass and a widely used commercial bone substitute in preclinical trials.
Glass is generally thought of as fragile, but in bone medicine, it shares several key physical properties that make it a good substitute for structural repair.
Both bone and glass have high compressive load strength and can resist tension due to their molecular structure. Glass is particularly useful when desiging intricate, 3D printed models as it can be melted and shaped with high precision.
Most 3D-printable glass, though, relies on toxic plasticizers or requires fusion at temperatures above 2,000 °F (1,100 °C). To address this, the researchers in this study set out to develop a 3D-printable glass that avoids plasticizers and extreme temperatures, creating a scaffold suitable for bone-forming cells.
They combined oppositely charged silica particles with calcium and phosphate ions, elements known to promote bone cell formation, to create a printable, bioactive glass gel. Once shaped using a 3D printer, the gel was solidified in a furnace at a relatively low 1,300 °F (700 °C).
To assess the material’s performance, the researchers used it to treat cranial bone defects in rabbits. They compared outcomes across three groups: the bioactive glass, plain 3D-printed silica gel, and a commercially available dental bone substitute.
While the commercial product initially promoted faster bone growth, the bioactive glass supported sustained growth over time. After eight weeks, the most new bone cells were found on the bio-glass scaffold.
In contrast, the plain silica glass showed minimal bone cell growth. These findings suggest the new material has the most favorable environment for long-term bone scaffolding and repair. This material holds promise in clinical applications and also for broader use in biomedical engineering.
Journal Reference:
Dou, Z., et al. (2025) Rational Design of Purely Inorganic Self-Healing Colloidal Hydrogels To Enable “Green” 3D Printing of Bioglass-Based Bone Substitutes. ACS Nano. doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c06377.
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