Effect of Morphology on the Drug Sustained-Release Performance of HA/β-TCP Composite

Hydroxyapatite/tricalcium phosphate (HA/beta-TCP) has been widely studied as a drug carrier, but the drug loading and release rate of the composites with different morphology significantly vary. In this paper, needle-shaped, rod-shaped, and ordered porous HA/beta-TCP composite was prepared by chemical co-precipitation method, and ibuprofen (IBU) was used as a drug model to study the sustained-release properties of IBU in vitro. The results showed that morphology of the HA/beta-TCP composite had a significant effect on the drug loading of IBU. The IBU loading of the ordered porous composite was as high as 101.3 mg/g, which was 2.2 times and 3.46 times higher than that of the rod-shaped and needle-shaped composite to IBU, respectively. The drug release test of IBU showed that the release rate of the ordered porous HA/beta-TCP to IBU was slower than that of the rod-shaped and needle-shaped composite in the initial 10 h, and reached the drug release equilibrium after the subsequent 30 h. The cumulative release of the ordered porous HA/beta-TCP composite to IBU reached 83.79 %, which was significantly smaller than that of the needle-shaped and the rod-shaped, showing better slow-release performance for IBU. The ordered porous HA/beta-TCP composite have great application potential in quantitative drug delivery systems.