Synthesis of Small-Sized Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles by Experimental Design and Characterization for Further Drug Delivery

Studies on the use of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) as a drug delivery system are increasing every year. The present study focused on the synthesis of small-sized MSNs for future drug delivery application. The MSNs with an approximate size of 50 nm with low polydispersity index (PDI) and high synthesis yield were obtained using the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) based in Taguchi design. The optimized MSN formulation was fully characterized and biocompatibility of this formulation was evaluated. The results demonstrated that optimized MSNs' average particle size was 53.2 nm, PDI was 0.125 and the synthesis yield was 84%. Moreover, obtained nanoparticles had a spherical shape and offer quite high drug loading area. Biocompatibility data also show that obtained MSN's were not reducing cell viability below 80% up to 32 mu g/mL concentration. Results indicated that obtained MSNs might be a promising approach for further drug delivery application.