A calcium sulphate/hydroxyapatite ceramic biomaterial carrier for local delivery of tobramycin in bone infections: Analysis of rheology, drug release and antimicrobial efficacy

Local targeted treatment of bone and joint infections using antibiotic-containing carriers is a common practice today. A recently FDA approved biphasic calcium sulphate/hydroxyapatite (CaS/HA) carrier containing gentamicin has been reported to give a sustained drug release, highly effective in eradicating bone infections. We present the first study evaluating the widely used aminoglycoside tobramycin (TOB) incorporated in the CaS/HA material with or without gentamycin (GEN) or vancomycin (VAN) with focus on rheology, drug release and antibacterial efficacy. In-vitro antibiotic release kinetics and biomaterial degradation were established by immersing the composites in phosphate buffered saline. The anti-bacterial effect of antibiotic containing CaS/HA composites as well as antibiotics release fractions were evaluated by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion against S. aureus. The CaS/HA + GEN + TOB combination delayed setting to over 30 min whereas TOB + VAN slightly prolonged setting time (25 min vs. 15 min) still with good injectability. TOB was released from CaS/HA continuously for 35 days and during this period, the antibiotic loaded biomaterial could show a continuous anti-bacterial efficacy even at the last time point of day-35. After day-35, the pellets used for antibiotic release were taken out from release medium and broken into a paste. CaS/HA + TOB paste showed the largest ZOI (25 mm) against S. aureus ATCC 25923, while CaS/HA + VAN paste had no ZOI and CaS/HA + VAN + TOB paste had a ZOI of 18 mm. At the same time, the ZOI of CaS/HA + TOB against S. aureus P-3 was 14 mm compared to 0 mm in the other two groups. Adding TOB to CaS/HA containing VAN, extended the antimicrobial effect with a longer time and larger zone of inhibition, while no synergistic effect of the co-delivery was observed. Our in-vitro results indicate that CaS/HA could be used as a carrier for TOB as a local targeted delivery system in the treatment of bone infections.