Fabrication of Sustained Release System of Electrospun Poly(acrylic acid)/Dextran Nanofibers Using Emulsion...

The burst release of drug is a problem associated with the use of common blending electrospinning. This problem can be avoided via fabrication of core-shell nanofibers where drug can be coated with polymer nanofibers as a shell. Moreover, there is a need to provide wound dressing with prolonged system of sustained release to accelerate the recovery of the wound. Currently, electrospun ciprofloxacin loaded poly(acrylic acid)/Dextran (Cipro@PAA/Dex) core-shell nanofibers can be prepared in green method using emulsion electrospinning. For comparison study, blend electrospun nanofibers (Cipro/PAA/Dex) was also prepared. The entrapment of drug into the polymeric material and the interaction between polymer blends were confirmed by FT-IR. Moreover, DSC was used to identify the type of interaction between polymeric chains. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) was used to study the nanofiber morphology and transmission electron microscope (TEM) and confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) were used to confirm the formation of core-shell structure. In vitro drug release profile was monitored by UV-Vis spectrophotometer and the results showed that Cipro@PAA/Dex exhibited controlled release behavior whereas Cipro/PAA/Dex showed burst release behavior. Moreover, the release mechanism is kinetically followed diffusion.