Binding of API to powder carriers

Mesoporous silica particles are studied as suitable pharmaceutical carriers that can attach the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) and be used for targeted drug delivery into our bodies. Here, we show the direct measurement of the specific particle surface roughness with and without API attachment, which can lead to a better understanding of surface influence and more effective API application, improving peroral drug delivery processes.

We measured the surface roughness of silica particles with different API treatments using AFM-in-SEM, evaluated the surface roughness, and compared the results. We found out API is bound in the pores, for higher API percentage even covering the whole carrier top. The surface roughness of particles with API is higher, which is caused by API clusters that recrystallize when not only in the pores.