Silicone matrices for controlled dexamethasone release: toward a better understanding of the underlying mass transport mechanisms

Dexamethasone-loaded silicone matrices offer an interesting potential as innovative drug delivery systems, e.g. for the treatment of inner ear diseases or for pacemakers. Generally, very long drug release periods are targeted: several years/decades. This renders the development and optimization of novel drug products cumbersome: experimental feedback on the impact of the device design is obtained very slowly. A better understanding of the underlying mass transport mechanisms can help facilitating research in this field. A variety of silicone films were prepared in this study, loaded with amorphous or crystalline dexamethasone. Different polymorphic drug forms were investigated, the film thickness was altered and the drug optionally partially/completely exchanged by much more water-soluble dexamethasone ‘phosphate’. Drug release studies in artificial perilymph, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and Raman imaging were used to elucidate the physical states of the drugs and polymer, and of the systems’ structure as well as dynamic changes thereof upon exposure to the release medium. Dexamethasone particles were initially homogeneously distributed throughout the systems. The hydrophobicity of the matrix former very much limits the amounts of water penetrating into the system, resulting in only partial drug dissolution. The mobile drug molecules diffuse out into the surrounding environment, due to concentration gradients. Interestingly, Raman imaging revealed that even very thin silicone layers (<20 µm) can effectively trap the drug for prolonged periods of time. The physical state of the drug (amorphous, crystalline) did not affect the resulting drug release kinetics to a noteworthy extent.