Loading and Release of Quercetin from Contact-Drawn Polyvinyl Alcohol Fiber Scaffolds

Abstract

Polymeric drug releasing systems have numerous applications for the treatment of chronic diseases and traumatic injuries. In this study, a simple, cost-effective, and scalable method for dry spinning of crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers is presented. This method utilizes an entangled solution of PVA to form liquid bridges that are drawn into rapidly drying fibers through extensional flow. The fibers are crosslinked by a one-pot reaction in which glyoxal is introduced to the PVA solution prior to contact drawing. Failure analysis of fiber formation is used to understand the interplay of polymer concentration, glyoxal concentration, and crosslinking time to identify appropriate formulations for the production of glyoxal-crosslinked PVA fibers. The small molecule quercetin (an anti-inflammatory plant flavonoid) can be added to the one-pot reaction and is shown to be incorporated into the fibers in a concentration-dependent manner. Upon rehydration in an aqueous medium, the glyoxal-crosslinked PVA fiber scaffolds retain their morphology and slowly degrade, as measured over the course of 10 days. As the scaffolds degrade, they release the loaded quercetin, reaching a cumulative release of 56 ± 6% of the loaded drug after 10 days. The bioactivity of the released quercetin is verified by combining quercetin-loaded fibers with contact-drawn polyethylene oxide-type I collagen (PEO-Col) fibers and monitoring the growth of PC12 cells on the fibers. PC12 cells readily attach to the PEO-Col fibers and display increased nerve growth factor-induced elongation and neurite formation in the presence of quercetin-loaded PVA fibers relative to substrates formed from only PEO-Col fibers or PEO-Col and PVA fibers without quercetin.

Quercetin-Loaded Polycaprolactone-Polyvinylpyrrolidone Electrospun Membranes for Health Application: Design, Characterization, Modeling and Cytotoxicity Studies

“…In addition, it has been reported to exert antidiabetic effect in vivo [ 30 ], to enhance wound healing in treated individuals [ 31 ] and to exhibit effects to prevent colonic carcinogenesis [ 32 ]. In nervous system tissue, quercetin has shown to limit apoptotic cell death, fibrosis and scar formation after injury, supporting its use as a model drug in the context of nerve repair and regeneration [ 33 ]. As a drawback, these therapeutic effects of quercetin is impeded due to its low water solubility, short half-life, light induced degradation, and rapid metabolism prior to reaching the systemic circulation [ 34 ].…”

A composite polyvinyl alcohol–medicinal plant extract crosslinked hydrogel: a novel soft system with excellent rhodamine B adsorption and significant antifungal activity

“…However, because most chemical cross-linkers are poisonous, caution must be taken when utilising them in biomedical or environmentally friendly products. 25,[29][30][31] Some biomolecules derived from nature, viz., tannic acid, 32 luteolin, 25 glycerol, 33 and citric acid, 34 are efficient non-toxic bio cross-linkers used to form self-supporting hydrogels of PVA that have with good mechanical characteristics, are nontoxic and biocompatible. The cheap and major sources of these cross-linkers are plants.…”