Recent advances in electrospun for drug delivery purpose

Electrospun, an advanced technology, has been successfully employed for fibre production and offers many merits in novel drug delivery systems (DDSs). In recent years, electrospun has gained significant attention and attraction of the scientists in soaring numbers. This technology is superior to other technologies in fabricating the fibres which range from micrometers to manometers scale. The selection of appropriate polymers, electrospun processes and electrospun parameters play important roles in controlling the drug release while, treating serious illness. Besides, electrospraying process has similar characteristics to the electrospun and is presented briefly here. Further, in vivo and in vitro evaluations of the electrospun nanofibers are comprehensively discussed. In addition, the electrospun nanotechnology has been exploited to design drug release systems, investigate drug's pharmacokinetics and further develop DDS. The electrospun nanofibers improve bioactivity of various types of drugs including water-insoluble, soluble, anticancer and antibacterial drugs and genetic materials. In the end, the prospects and challenges in the process of designing drug-loaded electrospun nanofibers are discussed in detail.

Fast Dissolving of Ferulic Acid via Electrospun Ternary Amorphous Composites Produced by a Coaxial Process

Enhancing the dissolution of insoluble active ingredients comprises one of the most important issues in the pharmaceutical and biomaterial fields. Here, a third generation solid dispersion (3rd SD) of ferulic acid was designed and fabricated by a modified coaxial electrospinning process. A traditional second generation SD (2nd SD) was also prepared by common one-fluid blending electrospinning and was used as a control. With poly(vinyl alcohol) as the fiber matrix and polyvinylpyrrolidone K10 as an additive in the 3rd SDs, the two electrospinning processes were investigated. The prepared 2nd and 3rd SDs were subjected to a series of characterizations, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), hydrophilicity and in vitro drug dissolving experiments. The results demonstrate that both SDs were monolithic nanocomposites and that the drugs were amorphously distributed within the matrix. However, the 3rd SDs had better morphology with smaller size, narrower size distribution, and smaller water contact angles than the 2nd SDs. Dissolution tests verified that the 3rd SDs could release their loaded cargoes within 60 s, which was over three times faster than the 2nd SDs. Therefore, a combined strategy based on the modified coaxial electrospinning and the logical selections of drug carriers is demonstrated for creating advanced biomaterials.

Fast dissolving drug delivery membrane based on the ultra-thin shell of electrospun core-shell nanofibers

Structural nanocomposites that provide fast dissolving drug release profiles are highly in demand in pharmaceutics. In this study, a poorly water-soluble drug such as quercetin or tamoxifen citrate (TC) was selected as a model active pharmaceutical ingredient. Core-shell nanofibers with ultra-thin shells were designed and prepared using modified coaxial electrospinning. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) K90 or Polycaprolactone (PCL) was selected as core. The drugs and PVP K10 were selected as shell. All types of solutions can be used as the shell fluids in modified coaxial process regardless of their electrospinnability, which means the increasing functional ingredients and unspinnable matrix can be processed. Evaluations via SEM and TEM demonstrated that the core-shell nanofibers had linear morphology with a shell thickness smaller than 100 nm. XRD and FTIR results showed that the model drug was distributed in the polymeric matrix amorphously and that PVP K10 had good compatibility with quercetin or TC. In vitro dissolution tests suggested that the core-shell nanofibers with ultra-thin shells released the loaded cargoes in the dissolution media within 1 min. The present investigation paved a new way for implementing the modified coaxial processes, which can be utilized to fabricate structural nanocomposites with ultra-thin shells for enhancing the fast dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs.