Localized Controlled Drug Delivery from Mesoporous Implants

摘要

Mesoporous materials possess both a well-defined topography on the nanometer scale, and they may serve as hosts for drugs. In this work, titanium implants coated with mesoporous TiO_2 thin films have been evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. Material characterization showed that, long-range ordered mesoporous TiO_2, with a pore-size of 6 nm, and a narrow pore-size distribution were obtained. An in vivo study demonstrated that the films were robust enough to withstand the implantation procedure. The in vitro apatite formation experiments showed that formation of apatite was higher on the mesoporous surface compared to its nonporous counterpart. In a separate in vivo study, two osteoporosis drugs, alendronate (ALN) and raloxifene (RLX), were immobilised into the nanoporous oxide films. The in vitro drug release tests carried out showed a sustained release of both drugs. The osteogenic response after 28 days of implantation of the drug-loaded implants showed a significantly improved bone fixation.