Preparation and Evaluation of Dexamethasone-Loaded Electrospun Nanofiber Sheets as a Sustained Drug Delivery System

Abstract

Recently, electrospinning technology has been widely used as a processing method to make nanofiber sheets (NS) for biomedical applications because of its unique features, such as ease of fabrication and high surface area. To develop a sustained dexamethasone (Dex) delivery system, in this work, poly(ε-caprolactone-co-l-lactide) (PCLA) copolymer with controllable biodegradability was synthesized and further utilized to prepare electrospun Dex-loaded NS using water-insoluble Dex (Dex(b)) or water-soluble Dex (Dex(s)). The Dex-NS obtained by electrospinning exhibited randomly oriented and interconnected fibrillar structures. The in vitro and in vivo degradation of Dex-NS was confirmed over a period of a few weeks by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The evaluation of in vitro and in vivo Dex(b) and Dex(s) release from Dex-NS showed an initial burst of Dex(b) at day 1 and, thereafter, almost the same amount of release as Dex(b) for up to 28 days. In contrast, Dex(s)-NS exhibited a small initial burst of Dex(s) and a first-order releasing profile from Dex-NS. In conclusion, Dex-NS exhibited sustained in vitro and in vivo Dex(s) release for a prolonged period, as well as controlled biodegradation of the NS over a defined treatment period.

Effect of Drug Carrier Melting Points on Drug Release of Dexamethasone-Loaded Microspheres

“…Thus, tailoring the PLLA into the PCL segment can change the melting points of PLC. Consistent with this idea, we previously found that incorporation of the PLLA into the PCL segment decreased melting points by decreasing crystalline aggregation of the PCL segment interrupted by PLLA [19][20][21][22][23][24].…”

Fast Dissolving Electrospun Nanofibers Fabricated from Jelly Fig Polysaccharide/Pullulan for Drug Delivery Applications

“…The low water solubility of dexamethasone made us encapsulate in nanofibers and study its solubility and bioavailability. The nanofiber-based delivery of dexamethasone can be easy and feasible [ 64 ]. The electrospinning process ensured the uniform distribution of dexamethasone in nanofibers.…”

Preparation and Characterization of Coaxial Electrospinning rhBMP2-Loaded Nanofiber Membranes

“…There are lots of factors that could promote the growth of osteoblasts, such as extracellular vesicles (EVs), which can promote osteogenic function through the regulation of osteoblast differentiation and expression of osteogenic genes in vitro [15]; BMP-2 can induce bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells to differentiate into osteoblasts and promote the proliferation of osteoblasts. Mikami et al proved that BMP-2 and DEX can support the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in vitro and jointly adding BMP-2 and DEX (a synthetic glucocorticoid [16]) to biomaterials may enhance their osteogenic differentiation efficacy in clinical bone tissue engineering [17]. It has also been proved that it is very important in bone tissue engineering to maintain their concentration of action, prolong their effectiveness, reduce the systemic risk of high burst release, and control the release of growth factors from biomaterial scaffolds [18].…”