Amino-Modified Polylactic Acid Nanofibre Microspheres as Drug Sustained Release Carriers for Alendronate

ABSTRACT

Amino-modified polylactic acid (EPLA) nanofibre microspheres with a high porosity, large specific surface area, strong adsorption capacity, and rich in active amino groups were developed for drug delivery applications. Alendronate, a well-known antiresorptive agent, was chosen as a model drug to evaluate the loading capacity and release properties of the prepared EPLA microspheres. SEM micrographs clearly showed that the drug was loaded into the microspheres within the pores between the nanofibers and as well as being adsorbed on their surface. XRD and FTIR spectra analyses also confirmed drug loading. UV/Vis-absorption spectrophotometry was used to study the impact of various parameters, including adsorption time and initial concentration and pH value of the alendronate solution, on the microsphere drug-loading capacity. Under optimum conditions, EPLA microspheres exhibited a high alendronate adsorption capacity of up to 503 mg/g. In vitro release studies showed that alendronate-loaded EPLA nanofibre microspheres exhibited a perfect release performance, with alendronate being released in a sustained manner for approximately 15 days without any obvious initial burst. Therefore, EPLA nanofibre microspheres hold great potential as efficient, controlled release drug delivery carriers of alendronate.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Absorption
• alendronate
• amino-polylactic acid
• nanofibrous microspheres
• sustained release

Additional information

Funding

This work was financially supported by Fujian Province Nature Science Foundation (2016Y0025, 2017J01685).