Ordered mesoporous materials for drug delivery

In recent years, mesoporous materials, which have unique pore size, higher surface area and pore volume, have been widely employed as carriers for controlled drug delivery. Compared with amorphous colloidal and porous silica, mesoporous silicas exhibit higher loading of drugs and provide a controlled drug release if modified by functionalisation. In this paper, we review the research work in this area discussing the textural and structural properties of several mesoporous materials such as M41S, SBA, MSU, and HMS in drug loading and release profile. The influence of functionalisation of mesoporous materials by organics is also discussed. Two systems of drug delivery mechanism, sustained release and stimuli-responsive control led-release, are compared and drug release kinetics is described. Bioactivity of various mesoporous solids is also presented. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.