Calcium Carbonate particles as template for drug delivery

Drug carriers that were developed in last decades helped improving medicaments with low bioavailability due to low absorption. In addition, the carriers have the potential of lowering toxicity caused by poor distribution. Amongst the different types of drug carriers, template-based drug carriers are being proposed as an attractive and versatile tool for controlling particle properties, while templates are used for Layer-by-layer (LbL) deposition of opposite charged polyelectrolytes. Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃) particles were suggested for use as template cores for drug carriers, using Layer-by-Layer (LbL) deposition techniques. Most of the studies have been done using silica beads and not CaCO₃. Silica beads require harsh conditions for melt-down that may damage drug loading. We hypothesize learning how to control the physicochemical properties of CaCO₃ beads such as size and morphology, will provide a versatile platform for assembling LbL drug carriers that can be more specific for the adequate treatment and make the drawback of high polymorphism less relevant. CaCO₃ beads were synthesized using Calcium nitrate (Ca(NO₃)₂) and Sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃). It was shown that adding Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) in the synthesis environment improves the morphology of the CaCO₃ beads. Here we show using other additives in addition to CMC improves further the overall uniformity and morphology of the CaCO₃ spheres. X-ray diffraction, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and electron microscopy methods were used for characterization. This new composite could be used to assemble new carries for drug loading that can be used to treat different diseases, adding uniformity to the particles and improving pharmacokinetic parameters.