CERAMICS INTERNATIONAL Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Ceramics International 40 (2014) 7355–7362 Investigation on bioactivity and cytotoxicity of mesoporous nano-composite MCM-48/hydroxyapatite for ibuprofen drug delivery Hoda Aghaei a , Amir Abbas Nourbakhsh b,n , Saeed Karbasi c , Roozbeh JavadKalbasi d , Mohammad Rafienia e , Nosrat Nourbakhsh f , Shahin Bonakdar g , Kenneth J.D. Mackenzie h a Department of Materials Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, P.O. Box 517, Isfahan, Iran b Department of Materials Engineering, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University,86137 Isfahan, Iran c Biomaterials, Nanotechnology and Tissue Engineering Group, Advanced Medical Technology Department, Isfahan, Iran d Department of Chemistry, Shahreza Branch, Islamic Azad University, 86137 Isfahan, Iran e Biosensor Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 817473461 Isfahan, Iran f Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Dental School, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Torabinejad Dental Research Center g National Cell Bank of Iran, Pasteur Institute of Iran, 1316943551 Tehran, Iran h MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Victoria University of Wellington, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand Received 5 November 2013; received in revised form 15 December 2013; accepted 16 December 2013 Available online 3 January 2014 Abstract A novel in situ synthesis is presented of a hydroxyapatite composite with the mesoporous silicate MCM-48 with potential applications as a drug delivery agent. The structure and properties of this nanocomposite, investigated by a number of techniques including XRD, SEM and TEM, show the intergrowth of the hydroxyapatite particles with the silica structure. The bioactivity of the new material was determined by measuring the decrease in the calcium ion concentration of simulated body fluid (SBF) after soaking the nanocomposite, while the uptake of ibuprofen on MCM-48 and MCM-48/HAp composite from ethanol was monitored by UV spectroscopy at 222 nm which was also used to monitor the release of ibuprofen into SBF, MTT assay was used to assess effect of the sample on MG68 cell live proliferation. The results confirm the successful synthesis of a MCM-48/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite and its potential biomedical applications as a bioactive ceramic and as a drug delivery agent with a higher rate of ibuprofen release compared to MCM-48. & 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved. Keywords: Mesoporous MCM-48; Hydroxyapatite; Bioactive materials; Drug delivery 1. Introduction Mesoporous solids have been widely used during the last decade as adsorbents, catalysts and catalyst supports because of their high surface areas [1]. Mesoporous materials are defined as containing pores with diameters of 2–50 nm and have pore volumes that make them suitable as matrices to host and subsequently release a large variety of molecules with therapeutic activity [2]. During the past decade, much effort has gone into the development of novel drug storage/release systems which exhibit advantages over conventional forms, such as enhanced bioavailability, greater efficacy and safety, controlled and prolonged release time and predictable therapeutic response [3,4]. In general, an efficient delivery system should be able to transport the desired drug molecules to the targeted cells or tissues and release the drug in a controlled manner [5]. So far, a large number of systems have been employed as drug delivery systems, including biodegradable polymers [3], hydroxyapatite (HAp) [6–7], calcium phosphate cement (CFC) [8,9], xerogels [10], hydrogels [11,12], and mesoporous silica [5,13,14]. Recently, mesoporous silica have been intensively suggested as drug delivery carriers since they came to light, because they possess many unique properties such as tunable particle size and morphology, uniform and tunable pore size, high surface area and pore volume, facile surface functionalization and stable physicochemical properties [15]. Mesoporous silica have been investigated as drug supports since they are nontoxic and highly biocompatible, and the wall of the pores containing free silanol groups can react with appropriate drug functional groups [16]. www.elsevier.com/locate/ceramint 0272-8842/$ - see front matter & 2013 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ceramint.2013.12.079 n Corresponding author. E-mail address: anourbakhs@yahoo.com (A.A. Nourbakhsh).