The in Vitro Osteogenic and Angiogenic Effects of Sodium-Free Fluoride-Containing Bioactive Glasses

Fluoride is known to stimulate bone formation. Recently, novel sodium-free fluoride-containing bioactive glasses (FBGs) were found to be highly bioactive, dissolved in Tris and SBF buffer solutions releasing ions and promoting fluorapatite formation and offered great potential for medical and dental applications. However, there is very limited knowledge on the biological effects of these glasses, which are extremely important for clinical applications. This study investigated the bioactivity of FBGs and their osteogenic and angiogenic effects on MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts in alpha-MEM for the very first time. Results showed that these highly bioactive novel FBGs were non-cytotoxic. The addition of fluoride promoted mineralization, collagen formation, osteogenic and angiogenic genes expression in osteoblasts. Compared to sodium-containing BGs, a higher amount of fluoride can be incorporated into sodium-free BGs to improve glass biological effects. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.