Preparation of a nano-hydroxyapatite/chitosan/konjac glucomannan composite as a novel degradable drug delivery system

A Nano-hydroxyapatite (n-HA)/chitosan (CS)/konjac glucomannan (KGM) composite was prepared by integrating composition and molding. Then, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) were used to analyze the physical, chemical and degradable properties of the composite before and after immersion in simulated body flu id (SBF). Moreover, an in vitro test for drug delivery revealed that the amount of released pentoxifylline (1-[5-oxohexyl]-3, 7-dimethylxanthine)(PTX) reached a plateau and equaled 80% of the drug loaded in an implant. The newly developed n-HAJCS/KGM composite may serve as a good degradable biomaterial for an implantable drug delivery system (IDDS) in bone tissue engineering.