Extended release of tetracycline using oral tablet with sodium alginate coated zirconium-MOF/hydroxyapatite matrix formulation

In this study, a novel drug delivery system was developed using sodium alginate-coated zirconium-based metal-organic framework (Zr-MOF) supported hydroxyapatite (HAp) composites for the extended release of tetracycline (TC). The structures of the prepared drug carriers and tablets were investigated by various characterization analyses. Various Zr-MOF/HAp composites with different Zr-MOF ratios (10 %, 30 %, and 50 %) were synthesized and optimized for TC adsorption. Among these, 30Zr-MOF/HAp composite showed the most superior adsorption performance, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 188.68 mg g^-1. The equilibrium results were in accordance with Langmuir isotherm model. The effective loading time was 300 min and the fitting model was determined as a pseudo-second order kinetic. In accordance with the optimized TC loading procedure, 30Zr-MOF/HAp composites were bulk loaded. Subsequently, these composites were coated with sodium alginate (SA) at different ratios and compressed into tablets to study their drug release performance in simulated gastric and intestinal fluids. 30SA-TC@30Zr-MOF/HAp formulation exhibited the most prolonged release times of 78 h in gastric medium and 63 h in intestinal medium, following the Korsmeyer-Peppas and zero-order kinetic models, respectively. This study demonstrates that the proposed composite can effectively enhance drug adsorption and release kinetics, offering potential for controlled drug delivery applications.