Electrospun PEGylated PLGA nanofibers for drug encapsulation and release

We report the fabrication of electrospun nanofibers of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) with a fast release profile for biomedical applications. In this work, PLGA was first covalently modified with methoxy poly (ethylene glycol) amine (mPEG-NH₂). The formed PEGylated PLGA (PLGA-PEG) was then mixed with a model drug amoxicillin (AMX) for subsequent fabrication of drug-loaded electrospun nanofibers. The synthesized PLGA-PEG conjugate and the formed drug-loaded PLGA-PEG nanofibers were characterized using different techniques. We show that the modification of PEG does not lead to an appreciable change in the uniform and smooth morphology of PLGA nanofibers. Importantly, the PEGylation modification affords a faster release profile of the encapsulated drug than pure PLGA nanofibers without PEGylation, which may be ascribed to the improved hydrophilicity of the PLGA-PEG polymer. Furthermore, antibacterial activity assay data reveal that the drug-loaded PLGA-PEG nanofibers are able to inhibit the growth of a model bacterium S. aureus. Finally, the hemocompatibility of the drug-loaded PLGA-PEG nanofibers was evaluated by hemolysis and anticoagulant assays, and the cytocompatibility of the fibers was confirmed by cell viability assay and cell morphology observation. We show that the formed drug-loaded PLGA-PEG nanofibers have an excellent hemocompatibility and cytocompatibility. The developed electrospun PLGA-PEG nanofibers may find various applications in the fields of tissue engineering and pharmaceutical sciences.