A new strategy for synthesizing silver doped mesoporous bioactive glass fibers and their bioactivity, antibacterial activity and drug loading performance

A new strategy for preparing mesoporous metal-doped bioactive glass fibers (MBGFs) was designed, which included electrospinning and sulfonating mesoporous PS fibers, precipitating metal ions and bioactive glass sol-gel precursor into the mesoporous polystyrene (PS) fibers and calcinations. Silver-doped mesoporous BGFs (Ag-MBGFs) with a uniform diameter of 1-2 mu m and a specific surface area of 40.22 m(2) g(-1) were prepared as an example and characterized by SEM, XRD, TG, ICP and FTIR. These Ag-MBGFs showed excellent bioactivity, antibacterial properties and drug loading and release performance due to their special mesoporous and fibrous structure. The concentration of Staphylococcus aureus decreased from 1 x 10(8) colony-forming units per mL (CFU mL(-1)) to 2.5 x 10(6) CFU mL(-1) in 2 h and then to 2 x 10(2) CFU mL(-1) in 12 h when the concentration of the Ag-MBGFs reached 16 mg mL(-1). BGFs of different compositions and functions could be prepared by the same strategy in a mesoporous PS fiber template, which could enrich materials for constructing orthopedic implants.