Novel controlled drug delivery system for multiple drugs based on electrospun nanofibers containing nanomicelles

Abstract

This research described a novel composite electrospun nanofibers, which were consisted of MPEG-b-PLA micelles, chitosan, and PEO, realizing controlled release of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs. 5-FU and Cefradine used as model drugs were successfully loaded in the nanofibers. The in vitro studies showed there was a low initial burst release of 5-FU from micelles-loaded nanofibers, and the final release proportion was about 91.4% after continually releasing for 109 h. In vitro cytotoxicity studies revealed that 5-FU-loaded nanofibers restrained HepG-2 cells efficiently, and the cell viability was 45.9% after three days of cultivation in solutions containing micelles-loaded nanofibers with 21.6 μg 5-FU. All results suggested that micelles-loaded nanofibers with two kinds of drugs can be used as an effective controlled drug delivery vehicle and may have a bright future in cancer chemotherapy or clinical treatments.

Keywords:

• controlled drug release
• micelles
• nanofibers
• electrospinning
• micelles-loaded nanofibers