Pharmaceutical particulates and membranes possess promising prospects for delivering drugs and bioactive molecules with the potential to improve drug delivery strategies like sustained and controlled release. For example, inorganic-based nanoparticles such as silica-, titanium-, zirconia-, calcium-, and carbon-based nanomaterials with dimensions smaller than 100 nm have been extensively developed for biomedical applications. Furthermore, inorganic nanoparticles possess magnetic, optical, and electrical properties, which make them suitable for various therapeutic applications including targeting, diagnosis, and drug delivery. Their properties may also be tuned by controlling different parameters, e.g., particle size, shape, surface functionalization, and interactions among them. In a similar fashion, membranes have several functions which are useful in sensing, sorting, imaging, separating, and releasing bioactive or drug molecules. Engineered membranes have been developed for their usage in controlled drug delivery devices. The latest advancement in the technology is therefore made possible to regulate the physico-chemical properties of the membrane pores, which enables the control of drug delivery. The current review aims to highlight the role of both pharmaceutical particulates and membranes over the last fifteen years based on their preparation method, size, shape, surface functionalization, and drug delivery potential.

Silica nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) have found applications in many advanced biomedical fields. This research work is concerned with the preparation of amorphous silica nanoparticles by the hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in ethanol medium and different surfactants such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and study the final properties of the prepared silica nanoparticles. The synthesized nanoparticles were systematically characterized by XRD, FTIR, particle size analysis and TEM. The XRD results revealed the crystallinity of silica nanoparticles. FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the presence of Si-O in the sample. The data obtained from DLS showed that particles with size of 198 nm had prepared. Moreover, the cytotoxicity of blanked silica NPs and Doxycycline Hyclate (DOX) loaded silica NPs on Human bone osteosarcoma cells (Saos-2) was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The results approved that the fabricated Silica nano particles are biocompatible and have the potential to be a convenient drug carrier.

In this study, polysaccharide polymers /Hydroxyapatite composite scaffolds were prepared by using freeze-drier processing technique. The microstructure and morphology as well as mechanical strength of the scaffolds were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, and other methods. The porosity ratio and in vitro biomineralization of the scaffold were also evaluated. It was found that, both porosity and compressive strength are strongly dependent on the concentration of HA. The porosity was reduced from ≈ 87 ±5.1% to 66.7±3.2%, while the mechanical measurements revealed that, the compressive strength reaches the highest value 23.96±0.82 MPa by adding HA to hybrid polymers. In addition, Blended hydroxyethylcellulose to sodium alginate cause increase of total pore volume inside scaffold, decrease in mechanical properties and the presence of bioceramic inside scaffolds structure enhances the precipitation and biomineralization of HA from SBF on scaffolds surface. Thus results suggest that these biocompatible composite scaffolds can be useful for bone tissue regeneration.