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Engineered Spindles of Little Molecules Around Electrospun Nanofibers for Biphasic Drug Release

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Abstract

Biphasic drug release is a popular advanced drug controlled release profile that has been drawing increasing attention from many fields. Electrospun nanofibers and their derivatives can be act as a strong platform for developing biphasic release dosage forms. In this study, a modified coaxial electrospinning was implemented, in which little molecule solutions that contain a drug ibuprofen (IBU) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) were exploited as a sheath fluid to surround the core solutions composed of polymer ethyl cellulose (EC) and IBU. The prepared nanofiber-based structural hybrids, i.e., engineered spindles-on-a-string (SOS) products, were successfully created and subjected to a series of characterizations. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy results showed the engineered SOS structures. IBU and the carriers EC and PEG had good compatibility, as suggested by X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy assessments. In vitro dissolution tests verified that the SOS products were able to provide a typical biphasic release profile, releasing 40% of the loaded IBU within 1 h in an immediate manner in the first phase, and the rest of the IBU in a sustained manner in the second phase. A combined mechanism of erosion and diffusion is proposed for manipulating the IBU molecule release behaviors.

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Acknowledgements

The study is financially supported by the Medical-Engineering Cross Project between University of Shanghai for Science & Technology and Navy Military Medical University (No. 2020201), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (No.20ZR1439000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51803121), and Projects 2019-YH-15 and 21QNPY062.

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  1. Hua He and Mian Wu contributed equally to the work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Third Affiliated Hospital of Navy Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200438, China

    Hua He

  2. School of Materials and Chemistry, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, 516 Jungong Road, Shanghai, 200093, China

    Mian Wu, Jingwen Zhu, Yaoyao Yang & Deng-Guang Yu

  3. Department of Outpatient, Third Affiliated Hospital of Navy Military Medical University, Shanghai, 200438, China

    Ruiliang Ge

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  1. Hua He
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  2. Mian Wu
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Correspondence to Ruiliang Ge or Deng-Guang Yu.

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He, H., Wu, M., Zhu, J. et al. Engineered Spindles of Little Molecules Around Electrospun Nanofibers for Biphasic Drug Release. Adv. Fiber Mater. 4, 305–317 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42765-021-00112-9

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