Construction and properties of venlafaxine hydrochloride sustained release system based on hollow mesoporous silica microspheres

Abstract

The aim of this work is to develop a venlafaxine hydrochloride sustained release system based on hollow mesoporous silica microspheres (HMSMs). HMSMs were innovatively prepared with tetraethyl silicate (TEOS) as the precursor and volatile n-heptane as a soft template. The obtained HMSMs show a well-defined hollow structure with an average size of 967 nm and pore volume of 0.85 cm3/g, implying it is a potential drug carrier. Subsequently, venlafaxine hydrochloride (VF) was absorbed in the HMSMs with a content of 37.67% or so. The sustained release effect is further measured by the dissolution instrument at 37 °C and 50 rpm in ultrapure water. The results showed that the HMSMs/VF system shows good sustained release properties compared with sustained release tablets with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose as the main component. This HMSMs sustained release system appears to be a promising candidate for a sustained drug release.