Bioactivity and Drug Release Study of Dexamethasone Loaded Bioglass/Chitosan Composites for Biomedical Applications

The aim of this study was to synthesize Bioglass/Chitosan (BG/CH) Composite as a bioactive material, which can be used in bone tissue engineering, Also BG/CH can be used as a carrier to dexamethasone as anti-inflammatory drug. A solution of 1 wt% of chitosan polymer dissolved in 1% (v/v) acidic acid was added to the solution of bioglass (65%SiO2-25%CaO-10%P2O5) which prepared with sol-gel method. Dexamethasone (Dexa) with different concentration (5, 10, 15 wt%) was added to the above BG/CH composite. The bioactivity of all samples was investigated by invitro test with different techniques (FT-IR, XRD, SEM, EDX) before and after soaking in (SBF). Profile release of dexamethasone was investigated with UV-vis spectroscopy for 33 days. The result showed a layer of HA deposited on the surface of all (BG/CH) composite and BG/CH loaded with dexamethasone samples, but decreased as dexamethasone concentration increased. Also, dexamethasone was released from the first day up to 33 days. All samples of BG/CH5D, BG/CH10D and BG/CH15D exhibited significantly maximum release up to 21 days and controlled gradually until 33 days. In conclusion, in-vitro test results confirmed that the synthesized BG/CH and Dexamethasone loaded BG/CH composites have new-bone formation ability (bioactive materials). Accordingly, these composites can be used as a protentional substitution for bone regenerative materials and a drug delivery system for Dexamethasone drug.