Functionalized bridged silsesquioxane-based nanostructured microspheres: performance as novel drug-delivery devices in bone tissue-related applications.

Two kinds of functionalized nanostructured hybrid microspheres, based on the bridged silsesquioxane family, were synthesized by employing the sol-gel method via self-assembly of two different organic-inorganic bridged monomers. The architecture reached at molecular level allowed the incorporation of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) as an anti-inflammatory model drug. The ASA-functionalized microspheres were characterized as delivery devices in simulated body fluid (SBF). The release behaviors of the synthesized microspheres (Fickian or anomalous diffusion mechanisms) were shown to be dependent on the chemical nature of the bridged monomers employed to synthesize the hybrid materials. The functionalized microspheres were proposed as delivery systems into calcium phosphate cements (CPCs), in order to slow down the characteristic drug-delivery kinetics of this kind of bone tissue-related materials. The incorporation of the new functionalized microparticles into the CPCs represented a viable methodology to modify the ASA-release kinetics in comparison to a conventional CPC containing the drug dispersed into the solid phase. The ASA-delivery profiles obtained from the microsphere-loaded CPCs showed that 40-60% of drug can be released after 2 weeks of testing in SBF. The inclusion of the microspheres into the CPC matrices allowed modification of the release profiles through a mechanism that involved two stages: (1) the diffusion of the drug through the organic-inorganic matrix of the microspheres (according to a Fickian or anomalous diffusion, depending on the nanostructuring) and (2) the subsequent diffusion of the drug through the ceramic matrix of the hardened cements. The release behavior of the composite cements was shown to be dependent on the nanostructuring of the hybrid microspheres, which can be selectively tailored by choosing the desired chemical structure of the bridged precursors employed in the sol-gel synthesis. The obtained results demonstrated the ability of this new class of functionalized hybrid microdevices as delivery systems into calcium phosphate materials with potential bone tissue-related drug-delivery applications.