Injectability, Processability, Drug Loading, and Antibacterial Activity of Gentamicin-Impregnated Mesoporous Bioactive Glass Composite Calcium Phosphate Bone Cement In Vitro

Abstract

Calcium phosphate cement (CPC) is similar to bone in composition and has plasticity, while mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) has the advantage of releasing Si, which can promote osteogenic properties and drug loading capacity. A sol–gel-prepared MBG micro-powder (mMBG) and further impregnated antibiotic gentamicin sulfate (Genta@mMBG: 2, 3, and 4 mg/mL) antibiotic were added to CPC at different weight ratios (5, 10, and 15 wt.%) to study CPC’s potential clinical applications. Different ratios of mMBG/CPC composite bone cement showed good injectability and disintegration resistance, but with increasing mMBG addition, the working/setting time and compressive strength decreased. The maximum additive amount was 10 wt.% mMBG due to the working time of ~5 min, the setting time of ~10 min, and the compressive strength of ~51 MPa, indicating that it was more suitable for clinical surgical applications than the other groups. The 2Genta@mMBG group loaded with 2 mg/mL gentamicin had good antibacterial activity, and the 10 wt.% 2Genta@mMBG/CPC composite bone cement still had good antibacterial activity but reduced the initial release of Genta. 2Genta@mMBG was found to have slight cytotoxicity, so 2Genta@mMBG was composited into CPC to improve the biocompatibility and to endow CPC with more advantages for clinical application.