Controlled Drug Release Formulation by Sequential Crosslinking of Multilayered Electrospun Gelatin Nanofiber Mat

Electrospun nanofibres in drug delivery: advances in controlled release strategies

Emerging drug-delivery systems demand a controlled or programmable or sustained release of drug molecules to improve therapeutic efficacy and patient compliance. Such systems have been heavily investigated as they offer safe, accurate, and quality treatment for numerous diseases. Amongst newly developed drug-delivery systems, electrospun nanofibres have emerged as promising drug excipients and are coming up as promising biomaterials. The inimitable characteristics of electrospun nanofibres in terms of their high surface-to-volume ratio, high porosity, easy drug encapsulation, and programmable release make them an astounding drug-delivery vehicle.

IR780 loaded gelatin-PEG coated gold core silica shell nanorods for cancer-targeted photothermal/photodynamic therapy

Gold core silica shell (AuMSS) nanorods present excellent physicochemical properties that allow their application as photothermal and drug delivery agents. Herein, AuMSS nanorods were dual-functionalized with Polyethylene glycol methyl ether (PEG-CH₃ ) and Gelatin (GEL) to enhance both the colloidal stability and uptake by HeLa cancer cells. Additionally, the AuMSS nanorods were combined for the first time with IR780 (a heptamethine cyanine molecule) and its photothermal and photodynamic capacities were determined. The obtained results reveal that the encapsulation of IR780 (65 µg per AuMSS mg) increases the photothermal conversion efficiency of AuMSS nanorods by 10%, and this enhanced heat generation was maintained even after three irradiation cycles with a NIR (808 nm) laser. Moreover, the IR780-loaded AuMSS/T-PEG-CH₃ /T-GEL presented ≈2-times higher uptake in HeLa cells, when compared to the non-coated counterparts, and successfully mediated the light-triggered generation of reactive oxygen species. Overall, the combination of photodynamic and photothermal therapy mediated by IR780-loaded AuMSS/T-PEG-CH₃ /T-GEL nanorods effectively promoted the ablation of HeLa cancer cells.

Non-Toxic Crosslinking of Electrospun Gelatin Nanofibers for Tissue Engineering and Biomedicine-A Review

Electrospinning can be used to prepare nanofiber mats from diverse polymers, polymer blends, or polymers doped with other materials. Amongst this broad range of usable materials, biopolymers play an important role in biotechnological, biomedical, and other applications. However, several of them are water-soluble, necessitating a crosslinking step after electrospinning. While crosslinking with glutaraldehyde or other toxic chemicals is regularly reported in the literature, here, we concentrate on methods applying non-toxic or low-toxic chemicals, and enzymatic as well as physical methods. Making gelatin nanofibers non-water soluble by electrospinning them from a blend with non-water soluble polymers is another method described here. These possibilities are described together with the resulting physical properties, such as swelling behavior, mechanical strength, nanofiber morphology, or cell growth and proliferation on the crosslinked nanofiber mats. For most of these non-toxic crosslinking methods, the degree of crosslinking was found to be lower than for crosslinking with glutaraldehyde and other common toxic chemicals.

Preparation and Characterization of PVA-Co-PE Drug-Loaded Nanofiber Membrane by Electrospinning Technology

A new transdermal drug delivery system of nanofiber membrane with good biocompatibility and high drug loading was developed by electrospinning technology in this study. Using vinyl alcohol-co-ethylene (PVA-co-PE) polymer as a spinning matrix and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) sulindac (SUL) as a model drug, the SUL@PVA-co-PE nanofiber membrane was prepared and characterized systematically. The morphology, molecular vibrational transitions, thermogravimetric attributes, and in vitro drug release and transdermal characteristics of drug-loaded nanofiber membranes were analyzed. The results indicated that the surface of PVA-co-PE nanofibers was uniform and smooth with the diameter ranged from 461 to 696 nm. Notably in vitro simulation experiments demonstrated that SUL@PVA-co-PE nanofiber membrane could provide a continuous drug release to reach the effective concentration of the drug, and exhibited significantly higher cumulative drug permeability compared to commercially available patches, Taken together, PVA-co-PE nanofiber membranes exhibited the characteristics of high drug loading and stability, and represented the potential to be utilized as a new transdermal drug delivery carrier with pronounced development prospect.