The incidence of biomaterial-centered infections underlies the need to improve the properties of existing biomaterials. Combining the bioactive properties of calcia-silicate gel-glasses with that of the silver would prevent infections without the use of antibiotic drugs. Inclusion of silver into bioactive gel-glass foam scaffolds is explored using in vitro characterization techniques. The amt. of silver released from Ag-doped S70C30 foams is well above the min. bactericidal concn. (0.1 ppm) but below the cytotoxic concn. (1.6 ppm) for human cells. Primary human osteoblasts proliferate on the silver-doped gel-glasses. [on SciFinder (R)]