Delivery of insulin from hydroxyapatite ceramic microspheres: Preliminary in vivostudies

The major limiting factor in utilizing protein drugs for sustained delivery is the lack of suitable delivery systems. Ceramic hydroxyapatite microspheres are biocompatible and utilized for the purification of proteins. As a preliminary study, we have investigated the possibility of using hydroxyapatite ceramic microspheres loaded with insulin as an implantable delivery system in rats. With this limited test, it was shown that the loaded insulin was active and able to suppress the blood glucose level in normal rats. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res 61: 660–662, 2002