Effects of Poloxamers as Excipients on the Physicomechanical Properties, Cellular Biocompatibility, and In Vitro Drug Release of Electrospun Polycaprolactone (PCL) Fibers

Abstract

Electrospun microfibers are emerging as one of the advanced wound dressing materials for acute and/or chronic wounds, especially with their ability to carry drugs and excipients at a high loading while being able to deliver them in a controlled manner. Various attempts were made to include excipients in electrospun microfibers as wound dressing materials, and one of them is poloxamer, an amphiphilic polymer that exhibits wound debridement characteristics. In this study, we formulated two types of poloxamers (i.e., P188 and P338) at 30% (w/w) loading into electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) fibers to evaluate their physicomechanical properties, biocompatibility, and in vitro drug release of a model drug. Our findings showed that the incorporation of poloxamers in the PCL solutions during electrospinning resulted in a greater “whipping” process for a larger fiber deposition area. These fibers were mechanically stiffer and stronger, but less ductile as compared to the PCL control fibers. The incorporation of poloxamers into electrospun PCL fibers reduced the surface hydrophobicity of fibers according to our water contact angle studies and in vitro degradation studies. The fibers’ mechanical properties returned to those of the PCL control groups after “dumping” the poloxamers. Moreover, poloxamer-loaded PCL fibers accelerated the in vitro release of the model drug due to surface wettability. These poloxamer-loaded PCL fibers were biocompatible, as validated by MTT assays using A549 cells. Overall, we demonstrated the ability to achieve a high loading of poloxamers in electrospun fibers for wound dressing applications. This work provided the basic scientific understanding of materials science and bioengineering with an emphasis on the engineering applications of advanced wound dressings.

Development of a multi-component gastroretentive expandable drug delivery system (GREDDS) for personalized administration of metformin

“…Focusing on the behavior of specimens containing soluble adjuvants, mass loss turned out even faster, in agreement with preliminarily literature findings in this respect [25,[86][87][88][109][110][111][112]. More into detail, mass loss data increased in the PEO > PEG8000 > PEG4000 order.…”

“…In this respect, PCL was selected as an interesting matrix-forming polymer for a variety of reasons Besides having been tested for the manufacturing of prolonged-release inserts/implants, its biocompatibility, mechanical properties as well as biodegradability profile in physiological conditions (upon hydrolysis of their ester linkages) have already been deepened [80][81][82][83][84][85]. In addition, degradation and release rate from PCL-based matrices could be fine-tuned through the use of appropriate additives [25,[86][87][88]. Focusing on core manufacturing, this polymer could easily undergo hot-processing, in view of its melting point of 60 °C as well as of a glass transition temperature of about -60 °C [89][90][91].…”

Effect of Specific Surface Area and Hydrophobicity of Electrospun Nanofibers on the Sustained Release Performance of Diclofenac Sodium

“…The substance transitions into a gradual release period lasting until 160 min, resulting in a final cumulative release rate of 30%. 66 The drug release is significantly enhanced compared with PCL@DS NFs. The experiment combines two polymers in varying quantities to enhance the sustained-release effect and then incorporates DS.…”

“…For PLA@DS NFs, the cumulative release rate drops to 16% within the first 43 min. The substance transitions into a gradual release period lasting until 160 min, resulting in a final cumulative release rate of 30% . The drug release is significantly enhanced compared with PCL@DS NFs.…”