New developments in ordered mesoporous materials for drug delivery

Abstract

Silica-based ordered mesoporous materials have experienced impressive consideration in drug delivery applications since they were first employed as drug delivery systems back in 2001. The possibility of tuning the physicochemical properties of the matrices together with the development of stimuli-responsive technologies are two of the main reasons for the great scientific attention on these bioceramics as conventional drug delivery systems. However, the properties of ordered mesoporous silicas have fuelled the possibility of covalently grafting certain biomolecules to stimulate selected target cells able to create new tissue, powering their employment in tissue engineering technologies, especially for bone tissue regeneration.