Preparation, characterization and drug delivery behavior of novel biopolymer/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite beads

Nano-sized materials possess uniqueness in their properties and designs as compared to their bulk counterparts. For this reason, they have attracted a great deal of attention from the scientific community. Nanocomposite is a composition having a dispersed material that has one or more dimensions, such as length, width and thickness, in the nanometer size range. The nano-sized materials have emerged as suitable alternatives to overcome drawbacks of composite and microcomposite materials. Biodegradable polymer /hydroxyapatite nanocomposites are a novel class of materials which have recently attracted interest as biomaterials and as drug delivery vehicles. The objectives of the present study were the preparation, evaluation and drug delivery behaviour of nanocomposite beads based on biodegradable polymer sodium alginate and inorganic material hydroxyapatite. In the present study, biopolymer / hydroxyapatite nanocomposite beads have been prepared, optimized and studied in parallel. The prepared nanocomposite beads were characterized by means of XRD, zeta sizer, and SEM, for better understanding regarding their composition and surface morphology. Polydispersity index of particles and mean particle sizes of the nanocomposite beads were measured by zeta sizer. XRD reports confirm the nanocrystalline composition and crystallite size. SEM provided the nanocomposites shapes and their surface topography. The average diameters of particles in the nanocomposites were found to be around 200 nm. We used this biopolymer/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite beads to evaluate its drug delivery behaviour using ofloxacin as a model drug. The in vitro drug-release study confirmed that prepared biopolymer/hydroxyapatite nanocomposite beads exhibited extended release period of drug as compared to the pristine biopolymer sodium alginate.