18.10.2024
Doctoral Thesis on Bioactive Glass
M.Sc. (Tech.) Polina Sinitsyna’s doctoral thesis in inorganic chemistry will be put forth for public defence at the Faculty of Science and Engineering at Åbo Akademi University.
The thesis is entitled In Vitro Dissolution of Bioactive Glasses with the Focus on S53P4-Derived Products.
The public defence of the doctoral thesis takes place on 25 October 2024 at 1PM in auditorium Argentum, Aurum, Henrikinkatu 2, Turku. Professor Dušan Galusek, Alexander Dubček University of Trenčín, Slovak Republic, will serve as opponent and Professor Leena Hupa, Åbo Akademi University, as custos.
Summary
Glass materials have been used for thousands of years in multiple forms and applications: windows, light bulbs, electronics, optical fibres, etc. Glass is also used in medical applications as implants. Bioactive glass represents a non-crystalline material that is able to bond to bone tissue while simultaneously dissolving over time and stimulating tissue growth. The disadvantage of bioactive glasses is their brittleness and high tendency to crystallise during thermal treatment in order to design in a specific shape. Silicate-based bioactive glass S53P4 has been approved for clinical use in Europe and by the US Food and Drug Administration and is commercially available as BonAlive® for bone regeneration technology. However, this composition is prone to crystallise. This thesis investigated the properties of products made of S53P4 granules, microspheres, and porous scaffolds in carefully controlled conditions. Most of the in vitro dissolution experiments were carried out under dynamic conditions in simulated body fluid mimicking the conditions in the extracellular fluid. Different experimental methods were applied to analyse the ion dissolution from bioactive glasses, their thermal properties, and in vitro bioactivity. The findings in this work pave the way for the development of new S53P4 hot-worked products with enhanced strength, controlled dissolution, and desired bioactivity for future clinical applications.
Polina Sinitsyna can be reached by phone +358 407 770 303 or email polina.sinitsyna@abo.fi.
The doctoral thesis can be read online through the Doria publication archive.