Mesoporous silica material TUD-1 as a drug delivery system.

For the first time the feasibility of siliceous mesoporous material TUD-1 (Technische Universiteit Delft) for drug delivery was studied. Model drug, ibuprofen, was adsorbed into TUD-1 mesopores via a soaking procedure. Characterizations with nitrogen adsorption, XRD, TG, HPLC and DSC demonstrated the successful inclusion of ibuprofen into TUD-1 host. The amount of ibuprofen adsorbed into the nanoreservoir of TUD-1 material was higher than reported for other mesoporous silica drug carriers (drug/carrier 49.5wt.%). Drug release studies in vitro (HBSS buffer pH 5.5) demonstrated a fast and unrestricted liberation of ibuprofen, with 96% released at 210min of the dissolution assay. The drug dissolution profile of TUD-1 material with the random, foam-like three-dimensional mesopore network and high accessibility to the dissolution medium was found to be much faster (kinetic constant k=10.7) and more diffusion based (release constant n=0.64) compared to a mesoporous MCM-41 material with smaller, unidirectional mesopore channels (k=4.7, n=0.71). Also, the mesoporous carriers were found to significantly increase the dissolution rate of ibuprofen, when compared to the pure crystalline form of the drug (k=0.6, n=0.96). TUD-1 was constituted as a potential drug delivery device with fast release property, with prospective applications in the formulation of poorly soluble drug compounds.