Bioactive and antibacterial glass particles as fillers in composite bone cements: Influence of amount and size on radio-opacity, bioactivity, mechanical and antibacterial properties

In this work, a bioactive and antibacterial glass has been added to a commercial PMMA-based bone cement to promote osteointegration and simultaneously limit bacterial contamination. The influence of the amount and size of glass powders on mechanical properties, radio-opacity, bioactivity and antibacterial effect of the composite cements has been estimated. The obtained results suggested that both filler's amount and size can affect the bending strength of the samples. The composites radio-opacity can be modulated by varying the amounts of glass and radio-opaque agent usually present in the commercial composition. The bioactive and antibacterial properties evaluation evidenced that introducing 10 wt.% of glass conferred a bioactive behaviour to the PMMA-based matrix and limited the bacterial contamination. Finally, an approach to technological transfer with controlled process parameters has been proposed.