Master of Science, University of Toledo, 2018, Bioengineering

The clinical incidence of large-scale bone defects has increased over the past few decades to both an increasingly aging population and an associated rise in the number of traumatic injuries. These defects require surgical intervention and can be complicated by post-operative surgical site infections; while these infections were originally managed with intravenous antibiotics, overuse of antibiotic drugs in both livestock and hospital environments has contributed to the creation of antibiotic resistant pathogens such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In craniofacial applications, especially, the lack of a synthetic, biocompatible and osteoconductive graft material that could address infections via a non-pharmaceutical approach provided a niche for exploration. The objective of this study was to synthesize a novel glass series, characterize the series to determine whether it would be biologically feasible and if so, identify the antibacterial efficacy and cytocompatibility of the material. A novel Zn-based bioactive glass series was created, as Zn has proven antibacterial capacity in previous studies. Molten mixtures of SiO2, Na2O, SrO, CaO and ZnO with varying CaO and ZnO concentrations, from 0-30% Zn, were quenched in room temperature water and ground to dental cement standards of sub-45 microns. X-ray diffraction revealed broad humps for each composition indicating that each was an amorphous solid. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and particle size analyses validated that the particle size of each composition was 45 microns, containing a uniform distribution of both large and small particles of the appropriate elemental compositions. BET surface area analysis confirmed that the surface areas of the samples were between 0.4163 m2/g and 0.6671 m2/g from RC-Control to RC-3; similarity in surface areas implied that reactivity differences were likely attributable to other factors. Differential thermal analysis indicated that th (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Aisling Coughlan (Committee Chair); Sarit Bhaduri (Committee Member); Eda Yildirim-Ayan (Committee Member) Subjects: Biomedical Engineering; Engineering; Materials Science