Fabrication of Chitosan Based Antibacterial Implant for Multibacterial Bone Infection

Despite advancements in medicines and novel surgical methods, osteomyelitis is still a complex and difficult to treat multi-bacterial bone infection. It generates in tissue necrosis along with rupturing of bone in chronic cases leading towards limited vascularity at infection site, local treatment might not show accountable level of antibiotic at infection site. The present research aims towards development and evaluation of bio-degradable implant of Ciprofloxacin hydrochloride to treat local osteomyelitis. Chitosan is widely investigated biodegradable polymer with hydroxyl moiety which is active and can be altered chemically to develop biomedical and therapeutic dosage forms. Here this active group was modified using epichlorohydrin & crosslinked Chitosan matrices were used as carrier to formulate different Ciprofloxacin implant. In vivo parameters and in vitro study was conducted for optimized batch. The formulation having 40% drug loading (EC4) was found to be optimum when all evaluation parameters were tested. The concentration of Ciprofloxacin Hydrochloride (HCl) in bone and surrounding tissues is much higher than minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) even after a month. After observing the water uptake and extended release of drug from all formulations the drug loading was found to be higher. The present work concluded that, the highly branched chitosan remarkably reduce the percent (%) drug release up to a month which could be useful in the treatment of osteomyelitis.