Preclinical assessment of the potential of a 3D chitosan drug delivery system with sodium meloxicam for treating complications following tooth extraction.

Current medical healthcare has no sufficient innovative drug delivery formulations for treating patients with alveolar osteitis. This study presents a portion of research conducted to design, fabricate, and characterize systems for the treatment of alveolar osteitis. The results demonstrate that intra-alveolar formulations can be designed to function as drug carriers, facilitate wound dressing, and promote tissue regeneration. Our aim was to design cone-shaped implants made of microcrystalline chitosan filled with sodium meloxicam, i.e., a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent. SEM analysis revealed the porous structure and monophasic characteristic of the formulation. Moreover, textural analysis demonstrated the effect of different factors (shape, hydration, addition of an active substance) on the hardness, springiness and cohesiveness of the studied systems. The active substance was released in a two-phase process. In vitro biocompatibility tests performed according to ISO 10993-5 confirmed the lack of cytotoxicity of the tested formulations. The designed formulations did not stimulate human THP1-XBlue™ monocytes to activate the transcription nuclear factor NF-κB, which ensures that the performed systems do not induce local inflammation. These initial results indicate that the innovative sodium meloxicam release system can improve safety and efficacy in clinical settings.