Polymeric nanocomposite hydrogel scaffold for jawbone regeneration: The role of rosuvastatin calcium-loaded silica nanoparticles

Islam M Adel; Mohamed F ElMeligy; Mohammed S Amer; Nermeen A Elkasabgy

doi:10.1016/j.ijpx.2023.100213

Polymeric nanocomposite hydrogel scaffold for jawbone regeneration: The role of rosuvastatin calcium-loaded silica nanoparticles

Int J Pharm X. 2023 Oct 2:6:100213. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpx.2023.100213. eCollection 2023 Dec 15.

Authors

Islam M Adel¹, Mohamed F ElMeligy¹, Mohammed S Amer², Nermeen A Elkasabgy¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Kasr El-Aini Street, Cairo 11562, Egypt.
² Department of Surgery, Anaesthesiology and Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo 12211, Egypt.

Abstract

Bones are subject to different types of damages ranging from simple fatigue to profound defects. In serious cases, the endogenous healing mechanism is not capable of healing the damage or restoring the normal structure and function of the bony tissue. The aim of this research was to achieve a sustained delivery of rosuvastatin and assess its efficacy in healing bone tissue damage. Rosuvastatin was entrapped into silica nanoparticles and the system was loaded into an alginate hydrogel to be implanted in the damaged tissue. Silica nanoparticles were formulated based on a modified Stöber technique and alginate hydrogel was prepared via sprinkling alginate onto silica nanoparticle dispersion followed by addition of CaCl₂ to promote crosslinking and hydrogel rigidification. The selected nanoparticle formulation possessed high % drug content (100.22 $\pm$ 0.67%), the smallest particle size (221.00 $\pm$ 7.30 nm) and a sustained drug release up to 4 weeks (98.72 $\pm$ 0.52%). The fabricated hydrogel exhibited a further delay in drug release (81.52 $\pm$ 4.81% after 4 weeks). FT-IR indicated the silica nanoparticle formation and hydrogel crosslinking. SEM visualized the porous and dense surface of hydrogel. In-vivo testing on induced bone defects in New Zealand rabbits revealed the enhanced rate of new bone tissue formation, its homogeneity in color as well as similarity in structure to the original tissue.

Keywords: Hydrogel scaffolds; Jawbone; Rosuvastatin; Silica nanoparticles; Sodium alginate; Tissue engineering.