Enhancing albendazole dissolution using SBA-15 carriers with uniform morphology and tunable textural properties

Abstract

Most existing drugs exhibit poor water solubility, limiting their dissolution and absorption.Consequently, enhancing their solubility and dissolution rates represents a major challenge inthe development of oral delivery systems. Mesoporous silica materials are a promising strategy,as they can improve drug dissolution rates by its amorphization within their pores. As texturalproperties of mesoporous silica play a key role; these properties were varied by synthesizingthree SBA-15 materials with the same morphology using different procedures. The mesoporousmaterials were loaded with the poorly water-soluble drug albendazole (ABZ). Two ABZ:SBA15 ratios and two loading methods were evaluated. Regarding the influence of synthesisvariables on the textural properties, as the aging temperature increases, the mesopore sizeincreases. The increment of the ripening temperature led to the lowest surface area andmicropore volume. The lowest calcination temperature resulted in the highest values for surfacearea, total pore volume and isolated silanols concentration. The highest ABZ:SBA-15 ratio ledto the highest drug loading percentage (DL%, w/w), regardless of the loading method. SBA15 synthesized with the highest -OH concentration and the maximum surface area and porevolume values showed the highest DL%. SBA-15 with the lowest surface area and porediameter without micropores achieved the highest drug dissolution rate. These texturalproperties might limit the re-crystallization of the drug inside the pores. In addition, in thissample the lowest ABZ:SBA-15 ratio under study did not present peaks in the thermogramsindicating drug amorphization within the pores.