Effects of bioglass powders with and without mesoporous structures on fibroblast and osteoblast responses

Highlights: • Fluorescent microscopy images show that BG-M has excellent cellular affinity. • Both the BG and BG-M substrates had positive effects on the proliferation of the osteoblastic cells. • Cells cultured on BG-M had approximately 1.4 times higher proliferation activity. - Abstract: The main objective of this study was to compare the responses of fibroblasts and osteoblasts to bioglass (BG) and bioglass-containing mesoporous structure (BG-M) powders. The BG-M powders exhibited specific surface areas approximately three times larger than those of the BG powders. The formation of a hysteresis loop also signified the presence of mesoporous structures in the BG-M samples; however, a hysteresis loop was not observed for the BG samples, resulting in 1/5 the pore volume of the BG-M samples. The viabilities of the fibroblasts and osteoblasts cultured in media containing the BG-M powders for 1, 2, and 3 days were greater than 90%. Importantly, the results of fluorescent microscopy images show that BG-M has excellent cellular affinity. Both the BG and BG-M substrates had positive effects on the proliferation of the osteoblastic cells. However, cells cultured on BG-M had approximately 1.4 times higher proliferation activity