Mesoporous bioactive glasses: mechanical reinforcement by means of a biomimetic process.

Mesoporous bioactive glasses (MBGs) constitute a new family of bioceramics with the fastest in vitro bioactivity studied so far. In this work, pieces with the composition 85SiO(2)-10CaO-5P(2)O(5) (mol.%) were prepared as MBGs and also by the conventional sol-gel method. After in vitro tests in simulated body fluid, the MBG pieces exhibited compression resistance twice as great than before, whereas conventional sol-gel glasses showed similar values. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy demonstrate the development of an apatite-like phase not only on the external surface, but also on the grains located within the MBGs pieces. In contrast, conventional sol-gel glasses only developed an apatite-like phase on the external surface. This work presents for the first time a new property of MBGs: the mechanical reinforcement of a bioactive glass through a biomimetic process. This ability is explained in terms of the outstanding bioactive behavior and the three-dimensional mesoporous structure that is exclusive for this bioceramics family.