Polycaprolactone / bioactive glass hybrid scaffolds with controlled porosity

Abstract : Inorganic-organic hybrids appear as promising bone substitutes since they associate the bone mineral forming ability of bioactive glasses (BG) with the toughness of polymers. In such hybrids, the main challenge concerns the incorporation of calcium into the BG silicate network, which plays a major role in biomineralisation. Hybrids comprised of polycaprolactone (PCL, M n = 80,000 g/mol) and SiO 2-CaO BG were produced by a sol-gel process and built into porous scaffolds with controlled pore and interconnection sizes. PCL was chosen as the polymer because its slow degradation in vivo makes it a suitable candidate for bone filling. The calcium incorporation, apatite-forming ability, mechanical properties and degradation rate of the hybrid scaffolds were evaluated.