Development of soluble glasses for biomedical use Part I:: In vitro solubility measurement

In this study soluble glasses have been developed for biomedical applications containing P(2)O(5) as a network former and CaO and Na(2)O as modifiers. This study shows that as expected, the glasses have an inverse exponential relationship between solubility and CaO content. Furthermore, there is evidence for compositional related non-linearity in the dissolution of the glasses with time. This is thought to be due to either layer formation on the glass surface hindering ion diffusion, ion exchange process or change of ionic strength of the solution. Bioactivity of these glasses is indicated by the formation of a brushite precipitate, a precursor to apatite formation. Further evidence for bioactivity is also presented in the second part of this paper. (C) 2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers.