Bottom-Up Strategy to Forecast the Drug Location and Release Kinetics in Antitumoral Electrospun Drug Delivery Systems

Abstract

Electrospun systems are becoming promising devices usable for topical treatments. They are eligible to deliver different therapies, from anti-inflammatory to antitumoral. In the current research, polycaprolactone electrospun membranes loaded with synthetic and commercial antitumoral active substances were produced, underlining how the matrix-filler affinity is a crucial parameter for designing drug delivery devices. Nanofibrous membranes loaded with different percentages of Dacarbazine (the drug of choice for melanoma) and a synthetic derivative of Dacarbazine were produced and compared to membranes loaded with AuM1, a highly active Au-complex with low affinity to the matrix. AFM morphologies showed that the surface profile of nanofibers loaded with affine substances is similar to one of the unloaded systems, thanks to the nature of the matrix-filler interaction. FTIR analyses proved the efficacy of the interaction between the amidic group of the Dacarbazine and the polycaprolactone. In AuM1-loaded membranes, because of the weak matrix-filler interaction, the complex is mainly aggregated in nanometric domains on the nanofiber surface, which manifests a nanometric roughness. Consequently, the release profiles follow a Fickian behavior for the Dacarbazine-based systems, whereas a two-step with a highly prominent burst effect was observed for AuM1 systems. The performed antitumoral tests evidence the high-cytotoxic activity of the electrospun systems against melanoma cell lines, proving that the synthetic substances are more active than the commercial dacarbazine.

Hybrid Organic–Inorganic Biomaterials as Drug Delivery Systems: A Molecular Dynamics Study of Quercetin Adsorption on Amorphous Silica Surfaces

“…The concentrations at the site of infection using wearable sensors are crucial. Locally targeted treatment of bone and joint infections using carriers containing antibiotics is a common practice today [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Organic/inorganic silica-based biomaterials capable of encapsulating the drug for in situ release after implantation also represent an increasingly attractive field for a good response to antibiotic resistance [20][21][22][23][24].…”

Nanometric Mechanical Behavior of Electrospun Membranes Loaded with Magnetic Nanoparticles

“…for producing highly flexible, microporous nanomaterials that convincingly mimic the features of the extracellular matrix and human tissue in general. Moreover, the possibility to easily load different types of fillers in the electrospun matrix for all types of applications is attracting great attention because it represents a powerful method to direct the material toward a myriad of diversified performances, including smart functions [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Moreover, by properly functionalizing the nanoparticle surface, it is possible to control its hydrophilic/hydrophobic behavior (a crucial parameter for the dispersion in water and for cell uptake) [ 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

Nanotechnology in Targeted Drug Delivery

“…Reaching a therapeutic outcome that is able to fight neurodegenerative disorders, tumoral diseases, or immunological disorders is facilitated by an efficient and site-specific delivery of compounds. For these reasons, this Special Issue collates different aspects of research into nanotechnology in order to identify new therapeutic targets and strategies, including review papers [4,5], mathematical models to calculate the trajectories of magnetic NPs in the body or clarify the structures of metal-decorated fullerenes [6,7], the drug delivery systems of different antitumoral agents [8][9][10][11], and the biocompatibilities of stealth liposomes and hybrid nanosystems containing surfactant agents [12,13].…”