Localized drug delivery via tramadol-loaded chitosan/hydroxyapatite scaffolds incorporating mesoporous SiO2-HA particles

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.matchemphys.2025.131313

This study investigates chitosan/hydroxyapatite (CS/HA) composite scaffolds integrated with mesoporous SiO2-HA particles for drug delivery applications. Scaffolds were fabricated using freeze-drying, resulting in a highly porous structure with interconnected pores. Tramadol was chosen to examine the encapsulation efficiency, release performance, and release kinetics of the samples. Morphological images confirmed that adding HA and mesoporous particles to the CS scaffold resulted in the formation of smaller pores with a more uniform geometry. The presence of mesoporous SiO2-HA particles in the scaffolds also significantly reduced the release of Ca ions due to their strong silane bonds. Moreover, this unique porous structure provided a drug loading capacity of 93 %, compared to 68 % in non-composite scaffolds. The composite scaffolds maintained complete release capability, with about ∼98 % of tramadol released from the CS/HA scaffolds incorporated with 2 wt% mesoporous SiO2-HA during 336 h. Kinetic investigations indicated the best fit with the Higuchi model as the drug release mechanism. Finally, the effect of tramadol-loaded scaffolds on cellular growth was thoroughly examined using various methods. The performance of tramadol-loaded scaffolds as a painkiller on osteosarcoma SAOS-2 cells demonstrated impressive biocompatibility. According to the findings, CS/HA scaffolds containing mesoporous SiO2-HA particles are strongly recommended as effective drug delivery systems for biomedical applications, particularly in bone tissue engineering.