Mesoporous Bioactive Glasses: Effective Biocompatible Materials for Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering

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Mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) are a special subclass of bioactive glasses (BGs), which have held great promise in biomedicine. Compared to meltderived BGs, MBGs exhibit higher bioactivity (apatite-forming capability) due to highly ordered nanoscale pores (2 to 50 nm) in their structure. The size and shape of well-ordered pores of MBGs depend on structure-directing agents (e.g., CTAB, Pluronic F-123, and Pluronic F-127) used during their sol-gel synthesis process. Having a mesoporous structure, MBGs provide great opportunities in tissue engineering and drug delivery applications. Although MBGs have been mainly explored for managing hard tissue injuries (e.g., bone defects), recent studies indicate their usefulness in soft tissue healing as well. In this regard, MBGs can be utilized for tissue reconstruction in different forms, including fine powders, granules, and scaffolds. In addition, MBGs have been found suitable vehicles for the delivery of a wide range of chemicals, bioactive molecules, and pharmaceutical drugs. Loading and delivery of antibacterial (e.g., antibiotics), pro-angiogenic, and anti-inflammatory substances are commonly being performed using MBGs for improved and accelerated tissue repair and regeneration. Furthermore, MBGs are regarded as promising DDSs for localized delivery of anticancer drugs. Currently, it is feasible to make MBGs as smart drug delivery systems (DDSs) with the help of chemical engineering approaches; for example, opening and closing MBGs' pores are achievable by stimuli-responsive molecular gates. With the invention of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, MBGs were successfully incorporated into polymeric inks to generate potent tissue substitutes capable of simultaneous tissue engineering and drug delivery.