Ultrasound-enhanced electrospinning

Leveraging artificial intelligence for better translation of fibre-based pharmaceutical systems into real-world benefits

The increasing prominence of biologics in the pharmaceutical market requires more advanced delivery systems to deliver these delicate and complex drug molecules for better therapeutic outcomes. Fibre technology has emerged as a promising approach for creating controlled and targeted drug delivery systems. Fibre-based drug delivery systems offer unprecedented opportunities for improving drug administration, fine-tuning release profiles, and advancing the realm of personalized medicine. These applications range from localized delivery at specific tissue sites to systemic drug administration while safeguarding the stability and integrity of delicate therapeutic compounds. Notwithstanding the promise of fibre-based drug delivery, several challenges such as non-scalability impede cost-effectiveness in the mass production of fibre systems. Biocompatibility and toxicity concerns must also be addressed. Furthermore, issues relating to stability, in-vitro in-vivo correlations, degradation rates, and by-product safety present additional hurdles. Pharmacoinformatics shows the impact of technologies in pharmaceutical processes. Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) are a transformative force, progressively being applied to enhance various facets of pharmacy, medication development, and clinical healthcare support. However, there is a dearth of studies about the integration of AI in facilitating the translation of predominantly lab-scale pharmaceutical technologies into real-world healthcare interventions. This article explores the application of AI in fibre technology, its potential, challenges, and practical applications within the pharmaceutical field. Through a comprehensive analysis, it presents how the immense capabilities of AI can be leveraged with existing fibre technologies to revolutionize drug delivery and shape the future of therapeutic interventions by enhancing scalability, material integrity, synthesis, and development.

Scalable Processes for Culturing Meat Using Edible Scaffolds

There is increasing consumer demand for alternative animal protein products that are delicious and sustainably produced to address concerns about the impacts of mass-produced meat on human and planetary health. Cultured meat has the potential to provide a source of nutritious dietary protein that both is palatable and has reduced environmental impact. However, strategies to support the production of cultured meats at the scale required for food consumption will be critical. In this review, we discuss the current challenges and opportunities of using edible scaffolds for scaling up the production of cultured meat. We provide an overview of different types of edible scaffolds, scaffold fabrication techniques, and common scaffold materials. Finally, we highlight potential advantages of using edible scaffolds to advance cultured meat production by accelerating cell growth and differentiation, providing structure to build complex 3D tissues, and enhancing the nutritional and sensory properties of cultured meat.

Recent Advances in Electrospinning Techniques for Precise Medicine

In the realm of precise medicine, the advancement of manufacturing technologies is vital for enhancing the capabilities of medical devices such as nano/microrobots, wearable/implantable biosensors, and organ-on-chip systems, which serve to accurately acquire and analyze patients' physiopathological information and to perform patient-specific therapy. Electrospinning holds great promise in engineering materials and components for advanced medical devices, due to the demonstrated ability to advance the development of nanomaterial science. Nevertheless, challenges such as limited composition variety, uncontrollable fiber orientation, difficulties in incorporating fragile molecules and cells, and low production effectiveness hindered its further application. To overcome these challenges, advanced electrospinning techniques have been explored to manufacture functional composites, orchestrated structures, living constructs, and scale-up fabrication. This review delves into the recent advances of electrospinning techniques and underscores their potential in revolutionizing the field of precise medicine, upon introducing the fundamental information of conventional electrospinning techniques, as well as discussing the current challenges and future perspectives.

Electrospinning and electrospun polysaccharide-based nanofiber membranes: A review

The electrospinning technology has set off a tide and given rise to the attention of a widespread range of research territories, benefiting from the enhancement of nanofibers which made a spurt of progress. Nanofibers, continuously produced via electrospinning technology, have greater specific surface area and higher porosity and play a non-substitutable key role in many fields. Combined with the degradability and compatibility of the natural structure characteristics of polysaccharides, electrospun polysaccharide nanofiber membranes gradually infiltrate into the life field to help filter air contamination particles and water pollutants, treat wounds, keep food fresh, monitor electronic equipment, etc., thus improving the life quality. Compared with the evaluation of polysaccharide-based nanofiber membranes in a specific field, this paper comprehensively summarized the existing electrospinning technology and focused on the latest research progress about the application of polysaccharide-based nanofiber in different fields, represented by starch, chitosan, and cellulose. Finally, the benefits and defects of electrospun are discussed in brief, and the prospects for broadening the application of polysaccharide nanofiber membranes are presented for the glorious expectation dedicated to the progress of the eras.

The Potential of Electrospinning to Enable the Realization of Energy-Autonomous Wearable Sensing Systems

The market for wearable electronic devices is experiencing significant growth and increasing potential for the future. Researchers worldwide are actively working to improve these devices, particularly in developing wearable electronics with balanced functionality and wearability for commercialization. Electrospinning, a technology that creates nano/microfiber-based membranes with high surface area, porosity, and favorable mechanical properties for human in vitro and in vivo applications using a broad range of materials, is proving to be a promising approach. Wearable electronic devices can use mechanical, thermal, evaporative and solar energy harvesting technologies to generate power for future energy needs, providing more options than traditional sources. This review offers a comprehensive analysis of how electrospinning technology can be used in energy-autonomous wearable wireless sensing systems. It provides an overview of the electrospinning technology, fundamental mechanisms, and applications in energy scavenging, human physiological signal sensing, energy storage, and antenna for data transmission. The review discusses combining wearable electronic technology and textile engineering to create superior wearable devices and increase future collaboration opportunities. Additionally, the challenges related to conducting appropriate testing for market-ready products using these devices are also discussed.

Recent Progress in Fabrication of Electrospun Nanofiber Membranes for Developing Physiological In Vitro Organ/Tissue Models

Nanofiber membranes (NFMs), which have an extracellular matrix-mimicking structure and unique physical properties, have garnered great attention as biomimetic materials for developing physiologically relevant in vitro organ/tissue models. Recent progress in NFM fabrication techniques immensely contributes to the development of NFM-based cell culture platforms for constructing physiological organ/tissue models. However, despite the significance of the NFM fabrication technique, an in-depth discussion of the fabrication technique and its future aspect is insufficient. This review provides an overview of the current state-of-the-art of NFM fabrication techniques from electrospinning techniques to postprocessing techniques for the fabrication of various types of NFM-based cell culture platforms. Moreover, the advantages of the NFM-based culture platforms in the construction of organ/tissue models are discussed especially for tissue barrier models, spheroids/organoids, and biomimetic organ/tissue constructs. Finally, the review concludes with perspectives on challenges and future directions for fabrication and utilization of NFMs.

How can Electrospinning Further Service Well for Pharmaceutical Researches?

The past two decades have witnessed the enormous success and progress of electrospinning, as well as its broad and useful applications in pharmaceutics as a laboratory pharmaceutical nanotechnology. Everything in the past is a preface, in which the large screen opens for electrospinning and electrospun nanofibers (particularly those multiple-fluid electrospinning processes and the related multiple-chamber nanostructures) to stride into a new stage and the real commercial applications. In this commentary, four hot regions are identified for the further progress of the applications of electrospinning in pharmaceutics, in which electrospinning and its products can provide more and better services to the development of pharmaceutics.

Contactless deformation of fluid interfaces by acoustic radiation pressure

Reversible and programmable shaping of surfaces promises wide-ranging applications in tunable optics and acoustic metasurfaces. Based on acoustic radiation pressure, contactless and real-time deformation of fluid interface can be achieved. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study to characterize the spatiotemporal properties of the deformation induced by acoustic radiation pressure. Using localized ultrasonic excitation, we report the possibility of on-demand tailoring of the induced protrusion at water-air interface in space and time, depending on the shape of the input pressure field. The experimental method used to measure the deformation of the water surface in space and time shows close agreement with simulations. We demonstrate that acoustic radiation pressure allows shaping protrusion at fluid interfaces, which could be changed into a various set of spatiotemporal distributions, considering simple parameters of the ultrasonic excitation. This paves the way for novel approach to design programmable space and time-dependent gratings at fluid interfaces.

Electrospun Nanofiber Composites for Drug Delivery: A Review on Current Progresses

A medication’s approximate release profile should be sustained in order to generate the desired therapeutic effect. The drug’s release site, duration, and rate must all be adjusted to the drug’s therapeutic aim. However, when designing drug delivery systems, this may be a considerable hurdle. Electrospinning is a promising method of creating a nanofibrous membrane since it enables drugs to be placed in the nanofiber composite and released over time. Nanofiber composites designed through electrospinning for drug release purposes are commonly constructed of simple structures. This nanofiber composite produces matrices with nanoscale fiber structure, large surface area to volume ratio, and a high porosity with small pore size. The nanofiber composite’s large surface area to volume ratio can aid with cell binding and multiplication, drug loading, and mass transfer processes. The nanofiber composite acts as a container for drugs that can be customized to a wide range of drug release kinetics. Drugs may be electrospun after being dissolved or dispersed in the polymer solution, or they can be physically or chemically bound to the nanofiber surface. The composition and internal structure of the nanofibers are crucial for medicine release patterns.

An overview on electrospinning and its advancement toward hard and soft tissue engineering applications

One of the emerging technologies of the recent times harboring nanotechnology to fabricate nanofibers for various biomedical and environmental applications are electrospinning (nanofiber technology). Their relative ease in use, simplicity, functionality and diversity has surpassed the pitfalls encountered with the conventional method of generating fibers. This review aims to provide an overview of electrospinning, principle, methods, feed materials, and applications toward tissue engineering. To begin with, evolution of electrospinning and its typical apparatus have been briefed. Simultaneously, discussion on the production of nanofibers with diversified feed materials such as polymers, small molecules, colloids, and nanoparticles and its transformation into a powerful technology has been dealt with. Further, highlights on the application of nanofibers in tissue engineering and the commercialized products developed using nanofiber technology have been summed up. With this rapidly emerging technology, there would be a great demand pertaining to scalability and environmental challenge toward tissue engineering applications.

Growth of MIN-6 Cells on Salmon Fibrinogen Scaffold Improves Insulin Secretion

The incidence of type I diabetes has been increasing worldwide at an annual rate of approximately 3%. One of the strategies to treat type I diabetes is islet transplantation, in which damaged β-cells are replaced with new islets. To improve β-cells’ expansion and pseudoislet formation, studies are focusing on using extracellular-matrix-resembling substrates. We evaluated the potential of salmon fibrinogen and chitosan electrospun scaffold as cell substrate for cultivating MIN-6 cells. The morphology of cells, insulin secretion and gene expression was evaluated and compared with other substrates (nanofibrous scaffold, microporous scaffold and tissue culture polystyrene). We found that all tested 3D conditions favored the pseudoislet formation of MIN-6 cells. The insulin secretion of MIN-6 cells after stimulation with high-glucose media shows approximately a 9-fold increase compared to the control group when a fibrinogen/chitosan-based electrospun scaffold was used for cultivation. The differences in insulin secretion were corroborated by differences in gene expression. The differences in insulin secretion could probably be attributed to the differences in the mechanical and/or chemical nature of the tested substrates.

The impact of the lamination pressure on the properties of electrospinned nanofibrous films

The purpose of this work is to explore the preparation of nanofibrous orally dispersible films (ODFs) by needleless electrospinning from the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) Tadalafil using particles suspended in a solution of polymers and other excipients. The prepared films were characterized by a combination of scanning electron microscopy, mechanical tests, measurements of the disintegration time and dissolution characteristic, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of lamination pressures in the range of 0 to 5 bars combined with films at various relative humidity values on the mechanical properties of the ODF. An increase in lamination pressure resulted in higher Young's modulus values, with the maximum value observed for a sample laminated at a pressure of 5 bar and the maximum stress and strain of the prepared ODF at a lamination pressure of 1.2 bar. Moreover, there was a significant increase in the disintegration time with increase in lamination pressure. The disintegration time ranged from 0.35 s for non-laminated samples to 12 s for samples laminated at a pressure of 5 bar. On the contrary, the lamination pressure did not reveal to have any impact on the dissolution kinetics. These results confirmed that the lamination pressure can improve the processability of ODFs without affecting the API dissolution kinetics.

Differential Drug Release Kinetics from Paclitaxel-Loaded Polydioxanone Membranes and Capsules

BACKGROUND

Drug laden implantable systems can provide drug release over several hours to years, which eventually aid in the therapy of both acute and chronic diseases. The present study focuses on a fundamental evaluation of the influence of implant properties such as morphology, architecture, porosity, surface area, and wettability in regulating the drug release kinetics from drug-loaded polymeric matrices.

METHODS

For this, Polydioxanone (PDS) was selected as the polymer and Paclitaxel (Ptx) as the model drug. Two different forms of the matrix implants, viz., reservoir type capsules developed by dip coating and matrix type membranes fabricated by phase inversion and electrospinning, were utilized for the study. Drug release from all the four different matrices prepared by simple techniques was evaluated in vitro in PBS and ex vivo in peritoneal wash fluid for ~4 weeks. The drug release profiles were thereafter correlated with the physicochemical parameters of the polymeric implants.

RESULTS

Reservoir-type capsules followed a slow and steady zero-order kinetics, while matrix-type electrospun and phase inversion membranes displayed typical biphasic kinetics.

CONCLUSION

It was inferred that the slow degradation rate of PDS polymer as well as the implant properties like porosity and wettability play an important role in controlling the drug release rates.

Biomimicking spider webs for effective fog water harvesting with electrospun polymer fibers

Fog is an underestimated source of water, especially in regions where conventional methods of water harvesting are impossible, ineffective, or challenging for low-cost water resources. Interestingly, many novel methods and developments for effective water harvesting are inspired by nature. Therefore, in this review, we focused on one of the most researched and developing forms of electrospun polymer fibers, which successfully imitate many fascinating natural materials for instance spider webs. We showed how fiber morphology and wetting properties can increase the fog collection rate, and also observed the influence of fog water collection parameters on testing their efficiency. This review summarizes the current state of the art on water collection by fibrous meshes and offers suggestions for the testing of new designs under laboratory conditions by classifying the parameters already reported in experimental set-ups. This is extremely important, as fog collection under laboratory conditions is the first step toward creating a new water harvesting technology. This review summarizes all the approaches taken so far to develop the most effective water collection systems based on electrospun polymer fibers.

Review on Electrospun Nanofiber-Applied Products

Electrospinning technology, which was previously known as a scientific interdisciplinary research approach, is now ready to move towards a practice-based interdisciplinary approach in a variety of fields, progressively. Electrospun nanofiber-applied products are made directly from a nonwoven fabric-based membranes prepared from polymeric liquids involving the application of sufficiently high voltages during electrospinning. Today, electrospun nanofiber-based materials are of remarkable interest across multiple fields of applications, such as in electronics, sensors, functional garments, sound proofing, filters, wound dressing and scaffolds. This article presents such a review for summarizing the current progress on the manufacturing scalability of electrospun nanofibers and the commercialization of electrospun nanofiber products by dedicated companies globally. Despite the clear potential and limitless possibilities for electrospun nanofiber applications, the uptake of electrospinning by the industry is still limited due to the challenges in the manufacturing and turning of electrospun nanofibers into physical products. The recent developments in the field of electrospinning, such as the prominent nonwoven technology, personal views and the potential path forward for the growth of commercially applied products based on electrospun nanofibers, are also highlighted.

A Mini-Review: Needleless Electrospinning of Nanofibers for Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Applications

Electrospinning (ES) is a convenient and versatile method for the fabrication of nanofibers and has been utilized in many fields including pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Conventional ES uses a needle spinneret for the generation of nanofibers and is associated with many limitations and drawbacks (i.e., needle clogging, limited production capacity, and low yield). Needleless electrospinning (NLES) has been proposed to overcome these problems. Within the last two decades (2004–2020), many research articles have been published reporting the use of NLES for the fabrication of polymeric nanofibers intended for drug delivery and biomedical tissue engineering applications. The objective of the present mini-review article is to elucidate the potential of NLES for designing such novel nanofibrous drug delivery systems and tissue engineering constructs. This paper also gives an overview of the key NLES approaches, including the most recently introduced NLES method: ultrasound-enhanced electrospinning (USES). The technologies underlying NLES systems and an evaluation of electrospun nanofibers are presented. Even though NLES is a promising approach for the industrial production of nanofibers, it is a multivariate process, and more research work is needed to elucidate its full potential and limitations.

Comparison of Traditional and Ultrasound-Enhanced Electrospinning in Fabricating Nanofibrous Drug Delivery Systems

We investigated nozzleless ultrasound-enhanced electrospinning (USES) as means to generate nanofibrous drug delivery systems (DDSs) for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications. Traditional electrospinning (TES) equipped with a conventional spinneret was used as a reference method. High-molecular polyethylene oxide (PEO) and chitosan were used as carrier polymers and theophylline anhydrate as a water-soluble model drug. The nanofibers were electrospun with the diluted mixture (7:3) of aqueous acetic acid (90% v/v) and formic acid solution (90% v/v) (with a total solid content of 3% w/v). The fiber diameter and morphology of the nanofibrous DDSs were modulated by varying ultrasonic parameters in the USES process (i.e., frequency, pulse repetition frequency and cycles per pulse). We found that the USES technology produced nanofibers with higher fiber diameter (402 ± 127 nm) than TES (77 ± 21 nm). An increase of a burst count in USES increased the fiber diameter (555 ± 265 nm) and the variation in fiber size. The slight-to-moderate changes in a solid state (crystallinity) were detected when compared the nanofibers generated by TES and USES. In conclusion, USES provides a promising alternative for aqueous-based fabrication of nanofibrous DDSs for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications.