Alumina porosa para liberação controlada de fármacos

Abstract

Alumina is a ceramic material with various applications in the electrical/electronic area as thermal and electrical insulators and in the industrial area in high strength mechanical components. Alumina is also used in the biomedical area as implants and as drug delivery material, which is proposed in the present work, as it is considered an inert material and has good mechanical properties. Drug delivery is the process of transporting and releasing drugs into the human body in a controlled manner. In this case, the carrier chosen was alumina, which must have porosity to store and release the drug when implanted or grafted. Alumina samples with 5 and 10% starch addition were compared to pure alumina, in relation to its porosity and mechanical properties. The X-ray diffraction test confirmed the presence of the corundum structure in the alumina. The tensile strength limit by diametral compression and Young's modulus of starch samples had the same value, and approximately half of the value when compared to pure alumina. Regarding porosity, the scanning electron microscope was relevant to highlight the porosity and grain differences of the samples. The mercury porosimetry assay was performed to quantify the porosity percentage, which increased with starch content and decreased with increasing sintering final temperature. UV/Vis spectroscopy used in drug absorption and release allowed the analysis of the release behavior, logarithmic, which is a type of curve predicted for drug delivery. In general, increasing sintering temperature reduced drug release, as increased starch content increased drug release. The samples with 5% starch presented the highest drug release in the proposed period.