Study on drug release behaviour of CDHA/chitosan nanocomposites--effect of CDHA nanoparticles

To explore the effect of nanofiller-polymer interaction on the drug release behaviour from a monolithic membrane prepared by Ca-deficient hydroxyapatite (CDHA)/chitosan nanocomposite, release kinetics was investigated in terms of different synthetic processes, i.e. in situ and ex situ routes, and various amounts of CDHA. It was found that a higher value of diffusion exponent (n) was obtained for the membranes in situ synthesized compared with those ex situ prepared. In addition, the n value of the membranes in situ synthesized increased with increasing CDHA amount, which remained in the range below 10wt.%. However, as CDHA content exceeded 30%, the n value remained constant. It indicates that the drug diffusion mechanism is altered by the CDHA-chitosan interaction which is strongly influenced by both the synthesis process and the concentration of the CDHA nanofiller in the membrane. On the other hand, a lower permeability (P) value of the membranes was observed for those prepared via the in situ process. Furthermore, P value decreased and increased with increasing CDHA amount in the range below and above 10wt.%, respectively. It demonstrates that CDHA nanofillers act either diffusion barrier or diffusion enhancer for the CDHA/chitosan membranes, which is determined by the concentration of CDHA nanofiller and the synthesis route of nanocomposite.