Porous HA microspheres as drug delivery: Effects of porosity and pore structure on drug loading and in vitro release

Porous hydroxyapatite (HA) microspheres with the main particle size of 42-50 mu m were fabricated using a novel ITSD technique. Pore structures transformed from aligned pores to cellular pores, with the increase of PVA contents. The percentages of GS loadings decreased from 41.8% to 30.9%, with porosities decreasing from 58.7% to 40.2%. Gentamicin was successfully loaded into porous HA microspheres and about 80% of loaded-GS amount was released from GS-loaded HA microspheres during 48 h period. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved.