3D-printed electrospinning setup for the preparation of loratadine nanofibers with enhanced physicochemical properties

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of drug-loaded nanofibers on the solubility of the poorly water-soluble drug, loratadine. Amorphous morphologies of electrospun loratadine nanofibers were prepared using a 3D-printed electrospinning setup. Polyvinylpyrrolidone was used as a carrier in the solvent preparation method. The prepared nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, solubility and in vitro dissolution studies with kinetic behavior evaluation. The scanning electron microscope images showed smooth nanofiber surfaces with a mean diameter of 372 nm. Moreover, both differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the amorphous state of the prepared nanofibers. FT-IR results suggested that loratadine lost its original crystal structure by hydrogen bonding interactions. The fabricated nanofibrous drug samples demonstrated a remarkable 26-fold increase in solubility when compared to the pure drug in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. Furthermore, dissolution studies showed that 66% of the drug from the nanofibrous mat was released in the first 10 min, which is significantly higher than the maximum of 4% drug release of the reference samples within the same time. Thus, Loratadine nanofibers can be considered as an alternative dosage form with improved physicochemical properties.

Technology of Orodispersible Polymer Films with Micronized Loratadine—Influence of Different Drug Loadings on Film Properties

“…The solubility of loratadine (LO) in water is reported as 10 µg/mL or lower [28,29], and the taste is not so problematic as for water-soluble drugs. The successful development of ODF with LO in suspension may also be helpful for the design of similar formulations with other poorly soluble APIs.…”

Low-cost FDM 3D-printed modular electrospray/electrospinning setup for biomedical applications

“…This makes electrospinning an attractive technique for tissue engineering applications, including vascular graft fabrication [16,17]. It is also widely used in medical diagnosis and drug delivery as they can immobilize the recognition element or active pharmaceutical ingredient due to the large surface area and porosity [15,18,19]. Recently, electrospinning has been also used for replica molding and producing three-dimensional scaffolds [20,21].…”

3D Printing and Nanotechnology: A Multiscale Alliance in Personalized Medicine

“…3D printing techniques have been used to shape these materials in a realistic formulation while concomitantly adding features as a strategy to obtain personalized medicines, [ 17,161 ] to propose new pharmaceutical dosage forms for known drugs [ 162 ] and to improve formulations for poorly water‐soluble drugs. [ 163–165 ]…”