Tailoring in vitro cell responses of porous silicon micro- and nanoparticles

Biomedical applications of inorganic nanomaterials have been actively investigated recently, especially in areas such as imaging and drug delivery applications. These materials are thought to improve the efficiency of cancer therapy and to provide efficient and user-friendly administration of other active
pharmaceutical ingredients. For example, many potential molecules cannot be delivered in oral form due to their poor dissolution/solubility and/or pharmacokinetic properties in the intestinal lumen, poor permeation properties in the GI tract, and high intestinal or hepatic first-pass metabolism. Porous silicon
(PSi) materials have several advantages over existing materials for drug delivery, overcoming most of the abovementioned problems in drug delivery of poorly soluble drug molecules. They can be fabricated to be stable under the harsh conditions of the stomach and GI lumen, maintaining their physicochemical
properties. In addition, PSi particles possessing different pore sizes in the mesoporous range (2–50 nm), along with desired surface chemistry, morphology, and high surface areas (200–700 m2/g), enable utilization of tailored PSi particles, with optimal loading of drug molecules into the pores, resulting in, for
example, improved drug release/dissolution and permeation behavior.