Strontium doping into diopside tissue engineering scaffolds

Abstract In this work, an inorganic-salt coprecipitation route was used to synthesize nanostructured diopside (CaMgSi2O6) powders without/with 2 mol% strontium substituted for calcium. A sponge replication technique was then employed on the powders to manufacture highly porous scaffolds with pore interconnectivity. The structure, bioactivity, biodegradation and cell adhesion of the samples were studied by X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Archimedes densitometry, and inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy analyses. According to the results, the Sr-doping process improves the sinterability and apatite-formation ability of the diopside-based scaffolds, but retards their biodegradation. Mesenchymal stem cells also present better adhesion and spreading with typical cell extensions on the Sr-doped scaffold in comparison to the pure one. It is eventually concluded that strontium can be further considered as a doping agent to improve the bioactivity and biocompatibility of Mg-Ca silicate scaffolds.