FIBROBLAST GROWTH AND POLYMORPHONUCLEAR GRANULOCYTE ACTIVATION IN THEPRESENCE OF A NEW BIOLOGICALLY-ACTIVE SOL-GEL GLASS

The search for chemical devices to be used in clinical orthopaedics mu st find substances that are biocompatible and do not elicit inflammato ry responses in vivo. To this end, a new form of glass has been prepar ed, composed of 8.1% CaO, 2.9% P2O5, 6.7% N2O5 and 82.3% SiO2, using s ol-gel procedures. In order to evaluate the in vitro biocompatibility of this glass, the proliferation of cultured murine fibroblasts and th e activation of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes has been studied. T he performance of the sol-gel glass has been compared with that of a b iocompatible non-resorbable soda-lime glass. Unlike the soda-lime glas s, the set-gel glass neither caused the inhibition of fibroblast growt h nor elicited a marked inflammatory response by polymorphonuclear leu kocytes, as demonstrated by chemiluminescence assay for reactive oxyge n metabolites.