Calcium phosphate drug nanocarriers with ultrahigh and adjustable drug-loading capacity: One-step synthesis, in situ drug loading and prolonged drug release.

Calcium phosphates (CPs) are regarded as the most biocompatible inorganic biomaterials; however, they are limited in the drug-delivery applications, especially for hydrophobic drugs. Achieving high drug-loading capacity and a controllable drug-release property are two main challenges. In this study we report a strategy for the preparation of novel drug delivery systems based on a concerted process in which the formation of the CP nanocarriers and the drug storage are accomplished in one step in mixed solvents of water and ethanol. The key advantage of this strategy is that the formation of CP nanocarriers and in situ loading of the drug occur simultaneously in the same reaction system, which makes it possible to achieve ultrahigh drug-loading capacity and prolonged drug release due to ultrahigh specific surface area and numerous binding sites of the CP nanocarriers. A series of hydrophobic drug-delivery systems with adjustable drug-loading capacities and drug-release rates have been successfully synthesized. In addition, the drug-release kinetics of the as-prepared drug-delivery systems have been found in which the cumulative amount of drug release has a linear relationship with the natural logarithm of release time. FROM THE CLINICAL EDITOR: Calcium phosphates (CPs) are highly biocompatible inorganic biomaterials with thus far limited drug-delivery applications. This study reports the preparation of a novel drug delivery system where the formation of CP nanocarriers and in situ loading of the drug occur simultaneously in the same reaction, enabling ultra-high drug-loading.