Loading Optimization of Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticle as Drug Delivery Agent

One of the potential candidates as a drug delivery agent that has been widely developed is mesoporous silica nanoparticle (MSN), which has several unique features. The high surface area and pore volume, tunable size particle, biocompatibility, and non-toxic are great features promising drug delivery carriers. The optimum condition to load the drug onto MSN is needed to maximize the loading of drugs. The drug loading is influenced by factors, such as silica to drug ratio, time, and pH condition. In this study, we had conducted the optimization of drug loading into MSN by implemented the Box-Behnken design of experiments. Also, the influence of each factor can be obtained through statistical calculation. The results showed that silica to drug ratio and pH condition significantly affect the loading capacity of MSN. The optimum condition obtained at silica to drug ratio, time, and pH conditions is 1, 48, and 3, respectively. (paper)