[In vitro release of tetracycline hydrochloride from alpha-TCP cement]

Drug release from alpha-TCP cement containing tetracycline hydrochloride (TTCH) was studied in vitro. Results from X-ray diffraction study indicated that TTCH did not prevent the hydration of alpha-TCP. In vitro drug release study showed that TTCH release could sustain over 1200 h, and the release was controlled by two mechanisms: (1) diffusion of free TTCH molecules through the porous cement (square-root-of-time kinetics); (2) dissociation of TTCH from the apatite-TTCH complex (zero-order kinetics). The mechanism controlling release would changed with the variety of the antibiotic content of cement pellets, as a result of TTCH adsorption and bonding on calcium phosphates. The first mechanism was predominantly for low concentration system TTCH-loaded apatite cement systems at the initial release period, and for high concentration TTCH-loaded apatite cement systems. As for low concentration TTCH-loaded apatite cement systems at later release stage, drug release was controlled by the coupling of the two mechanisms.