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

Abstract

Fibrous membranes of polycaprolactone (PCL)-polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) encapsulating 15% wt of quercetin are fabricated by a uniaxial electrospinning technique. Morphological analysis of the electrospun systems proved the fabrication of micrometric fibers (1.58 µm for PCL/PVP and 2.34 µm for quercetin-loaded membrane). The liquid retention degree of the electrospun membranes is evaluated by testing four different liquid media. The contact angle estimation is performed by testing three liquids: phosphate buffer solution, basic solution (pH = 13) and acidic solution (pH = 3), showing high hydrophobicity degree (contact angles > 90°) in all cases. The release of quercetin from the nanofibers in PBS (phosphate buffer solution) and pH = 3 medium, modeled through different models, shows the possibility of a fine tuning of drug release (up to 7 days) for the produced materials. The release profiles attained a plateau regime after roughly 50 h up to 82% and 71% for PBS and pH = 3 media, respectively. Then, since quercetin is known to undergo photooxidation upon UV radiation, release tests after different UV treatment times are carried out and compared with the untreated membrane, demonstrating that the release of the active drug changes from 82% for no-irradiated sample up to 57% after 10 h of UV exposure. The biology activity of released quercetin is evaluated on two human cell lines. The reported results demonstrate the ability of the quercetin-loaded membranes to reduce cell viability of human cell lines in two different conditions: direct contact between cells and quercetin-loaded membranes and cells treatment with culture medium previously conditioned with quercetin-loaded membranes. Therefore, the reported preliminary data confirm the possibility of applying the electrospun quercetin-loaded PCL-PVP membranes for health applications.

Quercetin in Drug Carriers: Polymer Composite, Physical Characteristics, and In vitro Study

“…The photostability of quercetinloaded membrane was assessed by exposure to UV-A lamp irradiation for up to 10 hours, showing stability of the encapsulated compound in the fibers even under prolonged treatment. The quercetin released from membranes retained the biological activity, as indicated by the cytotoxic effects on cultured cells (Viscusi et al, 2023) . The in vitro test results of using polycaprolactone as polymers are shown in Table 11.…”

“…Glyceryl Behenate Showed significantly superior effectiveness (Chakraborty et al, 2017) ; compared to conventional antihistamine (Rosita et al, 2022) ; medications; spherical with smooth surfaces, (Hariyadi et al, 2022) demonstrated good flowability; prolonging quercetin release duration Chitosan-Promising potential for wound dressings and (Zhou et al, 2021) ; Polycaprolactone medication delivery carriers in wound management; (Azeem et al, 2022) ; synergistic antibacterial and antioxidant capabilities (Viscusi et al, 2023) have a 30-month shelf life; the delayed release of quercetin in an acidic environment Chitosan Superior therapeutic effects in rabbit colitis models; (Helmy et al, 2020) ; effective approach for developing antibiotic (Wiggers et al, 2022) ; -releasing coatings for medical purposes; the (Azeem et al, 2023) bactericidal activity has been improved.…”

“…Hot-melt extrusion (Khor et al, 2017) Chitosan-Fluorescein Oxidative degradation and ionic (Zhou et al, 2022) ; Isothiocyanate-Zein cross-linking; coacervation (Al-Musawi et al, 2023) ; (Elmowafy et al, 2023) Sodium Alginate Aerosolization ionic gelation (Kalalo et al, 2022) ; (Xu et al, 2023) ; (Szulc Musioł et al, 2023) Inulin-Chitosan-Emulsion-assisted gelation, ionic gelation (Nalini et al, 2019) ; Sodium Alginate (Liu et al, 2022) ; (Liu et al, 2023) Glyceryl Behenate Emulsification (Chakraborty et al, 2017) ; (Rosita et al, 2022) ; (Hariyadi et al, 2022) Chitosan-Polycaprolactone Ultra-homogenization (Zhou et al, 2021) ; (Azeem et al, 2022) ; (Viscusi et al, 2023) Chitosan Ionic cross-linking (Helmy et al, 2020) ; (Wiggers et al, 2022) ; (Azeem et al, 2023) Chitosan-Alumina-Double oil in water emulsification; (Liu et al, 2017) ; PLGA-Oleic Acid gelation ionic and spray drying (Lee et al, 2018) ; (Nematollahi et al, 2021) Alginate-Hydroxyapatite Gelation method; electrostatic (Malvano et al, 2021) ; microencapsulation (Kim et al, 2022) ; (Montone et al, 2023) Eudragit S100…”

“…The capacity of quercetin-loaded membranes to (Viscusi et al, 2023) Polycaprolactone decrease cell viability in human cell lines under two distinct situations.…”

Innovative Fibrous Materials Loaded with 5-Nitro-8-hydroxyquinoline via Electrospinning/Electrospraying Demonstrate Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Anticancer Activities

“…Previously, some of us have reported that when PVP was present in fibers, it facilitated the release of the sparingly water-soluble drug curcumin from polylactide- and CA-based electrospun fibrous materials [ 17 , 18 ]. Drug-loaded fibrous materials with incorporated PVP or PVA have been shown have prospects for use in biomedical applications [ 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]. Such systems have been reported to exert good antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer and/or wound-healing properties.…”