Bone cement based on vancomycin loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticle and calcium sulfate composites

• Bone cement based on vancomycin loaded MSN and calcium sulfate composites
• APS modified MSN enhanced the loading efficiency of vancomycin.
• The positive sustained release effect of the composite bone cement

A novel bone cement pellet, with sustained release of vancomycin (VAN), was prepared by mixing VAN loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN) and calcium sulfate α-hemihydrate (CS) together. To improve the VAN loading ability, MSN was functionalized with aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) to give APS–MSN. The VAN loading content and entrapment efficiency of APS–MSN could reach up to 45.91 ± 0.81% and 84.88 ± 1.52%, respectively, much higher than those of MSN, which were only 3.91% and 4.07%, respectively. The nitrogen adsorption–desorption measurement results demonstrated that most of the VAN were in the pores of APS–MSN. The CS/VAN@APS–MSN composite pellet showed a strongly drug sustained release effect in comparison with CS control pellet. The in vitro cell assays demonstrated that CS/APS–MSN composite was highly biocompatible and suitable to use as bone cement. Furthermore, CS/VAN@APS–MSN pellet showed no pyrogenic effect and meet the clinical requirements on hemolytic reaction. These results imply that CS/VAN@APS–MSN was an ideal candidate to replace CS bone cement in the treatment of open fractures.

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