Background: Bone defects are often combined with the risk of infection in the clinic, and artificial bone substitutes are often implanted to repair the defective bone. However, the implant materials are carriers for bacterial growth, and biofilm can form on the implant surface, which is difficult to eliminate using antibiotics and the host immune system. Magnesium (Mg) was previously reported to possess antibacterial potential.
Methods: In this study, Mg was incorporated into poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to fabricate a PLGA/Mg scaffold using a low-temperature rapid-prototyping technique. All scaffolds were divided into three groups: PLGA (P), PLGA/10 wt% Mg with low Mg content (PM-L) and PLGA/20 wt% Mg with high Mg content (PM-H). The degradation test of the scaffolds was conducted by immersing them into the trihydroxymethyl aminomethane-hydrochloric acid (Tris-HCl) buffer solution and measuring the change of pH values and concentrations of Mg ions. The antibacterial activity of the scaffolds was investigated by the spread plate method, tissue culture plate method, scanning electron microscopy and confocal laser scanning microscopy. Additionally, the cell attachment and proliferation of the scaffolds were evaluated by the cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay using MC3T3-E1 cells.
Results: The Mg-incorporated scaffolds degraded and released Mg ions and caused an increase in the pH value. Both PM-L and PM-H inhibited bacterial growth and biofilm formation, and PM-H exhibited higher antibacterial activity than PM-L after incubation for 24 and 48 h. Cell tests revealed that PM-H exerted a suppressive effect on cell attachment and proliferation.
Conclusions: These findings demonstrated that the PLGA/Mg scaffolds possessed favorable antibacterial activity, and a higher content of Mg (20%) exhibited higher antibacterial activity and inhibitory effects on cell attachment and proliferation than low Mg content (10%).
Keywords: Antibacterial activity; Infection; Magnesium; Poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid); Scaffold.