Abstract Scope |
Glasses with bioactive properties containing rare earth elements can beconsidered for use in brachytherapy for bone cancer treatment, allied with bone regeneration. Ensuring their safety requires careful control of their dissolution to prevent the release of radioactive materials into the body. In this work, we developed and caracterized a sol-gel-derived bioactive glasses containing holmium oxide in several propotions. The results indicate that the incorporation of holmium ions into the glass structure reduced the energy barrier of hydrolysis reactions, promoting early-stage glass dissolution. However, in the long term, the strength of Si-O-Ho bonds may contribute to more stable dissolution. The Ho-glasses exhibited bioactivity comparable to 58S, a highly bioactive composition. Cytotoxicity tests revealed that the glasses were non-cytotoxic, even enhancing MC3T3-E1 cell viability. In conclusion, our findings suggest that these glasses are promising materials for brachytherapy applications due to their favorable dissolution behavior, high bioactivity, and excellent cell viability. |