According to the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority, amorphous forms of silica and silicates are generally recognized to be safe as oral delivery ingredients in amounts up to 1500 mg per day. Silica is used in the formulation of solid dosage forms, e.g. tablets, as glidant or lubricant.

The synthesis of silica-based materials depends on the payload nature, drug, macromolecule or cell, and on the target release (active or passive). In the literature, most of the examples deal with the encapsulation of drugs in mesoporous silica nanoparticles. Still to date limited reports concerning the delivery of encapsulated macromolecules and cells have been reported in the field of oral delivery, despite the multiple promising examples demonstrating the compatibility of the sol-gel route with biological entities, likewise the interest of silica as an oral carrier. Silica diatoms appear as an elegant, cost-effective and promising alternative to synthetic sol-gel-based materials.

This review reports the latest advances silica-based systems and discusses the potential benefits and drawbacks of using silica for oral delivery of drugs, macromolecules or cells.

根据美国食品药品监督管理局和欧洲食品安全局的说法，二氧化硅和硅酸盐的无定形形式作为 每天最多1500毫克的口服递送成分是安全的。二氧化硅用于制备固体剂型，例如片剂，作为助流剂或润滑剂。

二氧化硅基材料的合成取决于有效负载的性质，药物，大分子或细胞，以及目标释放（主动或被动）。在文献中，大多数实例涉及药物在中孔二氧化硅纳米颗粒中的包封。迄今为止，尽管有许多有前途的例子证明了溶胶-凝胶途径与生物实体的相容性，也有关于囊封的大分子和细胞的递送的有限报道，但是二氧化硅作为口服载体的兴趣也得到了报道。 。硅藻硅似乎是合成的溶胶-凝胶基材料的一种优雅，经济高效且有前途的替代品。

这篇综述报告了基于二氧化硅的系统的最新进展，并讨论了使用二氧化硅口服给药药物，大分子或细胞的潜在利弊。