Polymeric nanofiber dressings with incorporated rifampicin for transdermal administration

Abstract

We report the development of a polylactic acid/polycaprolactone (PLA/PCL) nanofiber dressing with rifampicin (RIF) incorporated, designed as a drug delivery system for treating and counteracting problems caused by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The dressing was obtained by electrospinning and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The RIF content in the dressing was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Its release was evaluated in a physiological liquid medium and in an in vivo study using rats. The nanofibers showed a diameter close to 200 nm. There were not found significant alterations in the FTIR spectra or in the thermal properties of the dressing components after the electrospinning process. The HPLC evaluation suggested that the electrospinning process did not generate chemical changes to RIF, which was incorporated into the dressing with an efficiency >98%. RIF was efficiently released from the dressing into the physiological liquid medium and efficiently released and transdermally absorbed in vivo, being identified in the urine of the animals from 6 to 48 h after starting its administration. Results suggest that the dressing can be used as a dosage pharmaceutical form for the transdermal administration of RIF.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Antibiotic
• dressing
• electrospinning
• nanofiber
• rifampicin
• transdermal

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Biomaterials Laboratory of the Center for Research in Applied Science and Advanced Technology of the National Polytechnic Institute and the Metabolism I laboratory of the National School of Biological Sciences, Zacatenco campus, of the National Polytechnic Institute.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving animals were performed under the ethical standards of the institution at which the studies were conducted.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability statement

The processed data required to reproduce these findings are available to download from Casañas Pimentel et al.^[57].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Secretaría de Investigación y Posgrado del Instituto Politécnico Nacional under grants number 20210054 and 20210080, and the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología CONACYT under grant number 000000000317193/2021.