TiO2 nanotubes as animal drug delivery system and in vitro controlled release.

The enrofloxacin hydrochloride (Enro), an anti-inflammatory drug for the animals, was loaded on the TNTs through physical absorption due to the high specific surface area and excellent surface activity of the TiO2 nanotubes. The samples were characterized by XRD, BET, TEM, TG and FTIR. The in vitro controlled release behavior at different temperatures was studied in detail. The results showed that the obtained TNTs were uniform and mainly amorphous crystal phase with a diameter of 10-15 nm and a length of 350-400 nm. By investigating the effect of the hydrothermal reaction process of the obtained TiO2 nanotubes and the drug loading frequency on the loading content of Enro drugs, the results indicated that the increasing loading frequency of the drug was available for the drug loading and the maximum loading content of drug reached to 33.28%. Enro-TNTs performed a better release profile at low temperature than at high temperature in PBS solution. The Higuchi square root models are suitable to explain the in vitro drug release behavior of Enro from Enro-TNTs.