Supercritical technology applied to the development of drug delivery systems for bone regeneration

Abstract

Bone is the second most transplanted tissue, only behind blood transfusions, with over 2 million of procedures worldwide each year. This number is expected to increase, given that ageing is a risk factor for fractures and fracture delayed union and non-union, that currently reach up to 10 % of cases. Different approaches have been proposed with the purpose of obtaining synthetic scaffolds that can be used as bone grafts. In this Thesis, supercritical fluids were employed to optimize the preparation of synthetic scaffolds made of two biocompatible and biodegradable polymers, poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL), with the incorporation of aerogel microparticles and anti-inflammatories as bioactive compounds in order to improve their properties for their application as bone grafts. The scaffolds were tested regarding their textural, phisicochemical and mechanical properties, degradation rates, drug release profiles, stability in storage and performance in an animal model.