| Summary: | 碩士 === 長庚大學 === 醫療機電工程研究所 === 99 === Periodontitis is a difficult infection to treat and eradicate. Long-term local antibiotic deliveries in the periodontal pockets are often required for effective therapy. The purpose of this report was to develop solvent-free biodegradable drug-eluting implants for the treatment of infected periodontal pockets. The drug-eluting implants were prepared using the compression-sintering technique. To fabricate the implants, polylactide-polyglycolide copolymers were pre-mixed with doxycycline or metronidazole. The mixture was then compression molded and sintered to form implants of various sizes and geometries. An elution method and an HPLC assay were employed to characterize the in-vitro release rates of the antibiotics over a 28-day period. A bacterial inhibition test was also carried out to determine the bioactivity of released antibiotics. Doxycycline and metronidazole exhibited a bi-phase and a tri-phase release behavior, respectively, from the drug-eluting implants. The concentrations of both doxycycline and metronidazole were much greater than the minimum inhibitory concentration of Escherichia coli for up to 4 and 3 weeks respectively, and the bioactivities of the antibiotics remained high after the fabrication process. Furthermore, the initial burst could be minimized and the release rate could be reduced by increasing the size of the implants and by adopting low drug to polymer ratios. By employing this compression-sintering technique and appropriate processing parameters, we will be able to fabricate biodegradable implants of various types of anti-bacterial drugs for long-term local deliveries. Eventually biodegradable drug-eluting implants may be used to treat various periodontal diseases.
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