title: Mesoporous silicon in drug delivery applications.
abstract: During the last few years, a number of interesting drug delivery applications of mesoporous materials have been demonstrated. Mesoporous silicon has many important properties advantageous to drug delivery applications. The small size of the pores confines the space of a drug and engages the effects of surface interactions of the drug molecules and the pore wall. The size of the pores and the surface chemistry of the pore walls may be easily changed and controlled. Depending on the size and the surface chemistry of the pores, increased or sustained release of the loaded drug can be obtained. Drug loading from a solution at room temperature enables the use of porous silicon (PSi) also with sensitive therapeutic compounds susceptible to degradation, like peptides and proteins. This article reviews the fabrication and chemical modifications of PSi for biomedical applications, and also the potential advantages of PSi in drug delivery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Jarno
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salonen
authors.forename: Ann M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kaukonen
authors.forename: Jouni
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hirvonen
authors.forename: Vesa-Pekka
authors.initials: VP
authors.lastname: Lehto
mesh_terms: D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D004355:Drug Stability; D016062:Porosity; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D012825:Silicon