Oxidized Icariin functionalized amino-mesoporous bioactive glass with slow-release and anti-inflammatory properties potential application in bone tissue repair

In order to endow bioactive glass (BG) with the anti-inflammatory activity for the purpose of promoting bone formation. In this study, Icariin (ICA) possessing excellent anti-inflammatory activity was oxidized by NaIO₄ to obtain OICA containing -CHO, and then it was loaded on aminated mesoporous bioactive glass (BG-NH₂) by Schiff base reaction to obtain BG-OICA. The results showed that compared to BG-ICA (loaded with ICA), BG-OICA-32 (loaded with OICA with oxide degree of 69.1 ± 1.5%) possessed more advantages, including higher drug loading yield (24.7 ± 0.7%, more than twice as much as that of BG-ICA), slower release rate (the cumulative release at 168 hours was less than 40%), and greater ability to BMSCs' proliferation. In addition, BG-OICA-32 exhibited improved anti-inflammatory activity compared to the carrier BG-NH₂-16 itself. Therefore, the study confirmed that OICA functionalized BG-NH₂ has great potential application in the field of bone tissue engineering.