Polymer-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles for the controlled release of macromolecules.

With the goal of achieving constant release of large biological molecules over an extended period of time we focused on hybrid inorganic/organic nanoparticles. We synthesized poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-coated mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) with incorporated trypsin inhibitor (TI), a model protein molecule for growth factors. Due to the goal of incorporating large protein molecules the pore size of the as-synthesized MSNs was expanded by a hydrothermal treatment prior to TI incorporation. In vitro release from the MSNs without the thin polymer film shows an initial burst followed by continuous release. In the case of polymer-coated MSNs the initial burst release was completely suppressed and approximate zero order release was achieved for 4 weeks.