Strides with Strontium

If you’re lucky, you'll never break a bone. However, for people with osteoporosis, the chances are slimmer and repairing fractures can be more complicated, requiring bone grafts. Scaffolds made of bioactive glass have been used in grafts to improve bone repair. Researchers investigate how to boost this effect by treating the glass scaffolds with metal ions, which change how the scaffolds interact with the body. The team compared untreated scaffolds to scaffolds treated with strontium ions (pictured using scanning electron microscopy) – strontium is currently used to treat osteoporosis. Both scaffolds were powdered and added to dishes where E.coli or Staphylococcus aureus bacteria were grown to test their antibacterial effects. Both prevented E.coli growth but only strontium-treated scaffolds reduced S.aureus growth. Next, scaffolds were inserted into rabbits with bone defects. The strontium-treated scaffolds stimulated more bone growth and consequently hold promise for improving fracture healing in osteoporosis patients.

Written by Lux Fatimathas

Lux Fatimathas

Writer

Having pursued science through a career in research, communications and publishing, she is currently a writer and editor for a healthcare marketing agency and also juggles freelance science writing.

• Image from work by Nafiseh Baheiraei and colleagues
• Tissue Engineering and Applied Cell Sciences Division, Department of Anatomical Sciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Scientific Reports, April 2021