In-vitro study of Ketoprofen Release from Synthesized Silica Aerogels (as Drug Carriers) and Evaluation of Mathematical Kinetic Release Models

Silica aerogels are porous and extremely lightweight nano-materials that show interesting properties. These materials, because of biocompatibility, non-harmful to the body, and special physical characteristics such as large surface area and low density have great potential for use in a drug delivery system (DDS). The focus of this study is the evaluation of the effects of silica aerogels on improving the release rate of Ketoprofen as a relevant model drug of poorly soluble drugs in water. The in-vitro release rate of a conventional crystalline form of pure drug and three samples of drug loaded silica aerogels with different densities, 0.033, 0.080, and 0.24 g/ cm3 were measured and investigated. The results show that all three samples of silica aerogels considerably increased (p < 0.05) the rate of drug release compared to its crystalline form. The silica aerogel sample with the lowest density (0.033 gr/cm3) has demonstrated the highest release rate of the drug (approximately five times faster than pure drug). Thus, silica aerogels could be acceptable carriers for poorly soluble drugs that require treatment with the fast release. Moreover, three release kinetic models were fitted with in-vitro drug release data and evaluated. The results indicate that the First-Order model is the best fit with the in-vitro Ketoprofen release data. Finally, in this article, a new kinetic release equation was obtained based on the first order model and release data, with applying the density of silica aerogel as an effective index parameter. This equation was proposed to describe Ketoprofen release rate in silica aerogels.