Tailored doxycycline delivery from MCM-41-type silica carriers

Doxycycline, an antibiotic from the tetracycline class with a broad spectrum of activity, was used to prepare drug delivery systems based on pristine and functionalized mesostructured silica supports. MCM-41-type materials with different textural, structural, and surface properties were used to assess their influence on the drug release kinetics. Small- and wide-angle XRD, FTIR spectroscopy and N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms were used to characterize the carriers before and after doxycycline loading. The drug release experiments were performed in vitro in 0.2 M phosphate buffer solution at 37 °C, and the slowest drug release kinetics was obtained for magnesium-modified MCM-41 carrier. All drug-loaded materials exhibited good antibacterial activity against Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 10031 strain, similar to the drug alone.