A nanostructured titania bioceramic implantable device capable of drug delivery to the temporal lobe of the brain

A new TiO2 nanostructured bioceramic device was synthesized using a sol-gel process in order to control pore size distribution and particle size. The objective was to obtain a constant drug release rate for antiepileptic drugs directly into the central nervous system (CNS). Point defects were generated in the titania network in order to obtain the desired interaction between a highly polar drug and the titania device. Difficulties in the control of epileptic seizures and common side effects have led us to study the possibility of using an implantable nanostructured bioceramic device in the brain of a rat. This device contains an anticonvulsant drug (valproic acid, VPA) which can be released directly into the temporal lobe of the brain at a constant rate. This rate should be constant over an extended period of time. Epilepsy is a disease that occurs in approximately 4% of the world population. Normally it can be treated using systemic therapy. The area covered by drug diffusion should include the amygdale, hippocampus and cortex of the temporal lobe. To study the efficiency of the drug release in vivo, epileptic conditions were generated using the chemical Kindling method. (C) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.