Ibuprofen-loaded electrospun poly(ethylene--vinyl alcohol) nanofibers for wound dressing applications.
Jean Schoeller, Karin Wuertz-Kozak, Stephen J Ferguson, Markus Rottmar, Jonathan Avaro, Yvonne Elbs-Glatz, Michael Chung, René M Rossi
Author Information
Jean Schoeller: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles 9014 St. Gallen Switzerland rene.rossi@empa.ch. ORCID
Karin Wuertz-Kozak: Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Department of Biomedical Engineering Rochester NY 14623 USA.
Stephen J Ferguson: ETH Zürich, Institute for Biomechanics 8093 Zürich Switzerland.
Markus Rottmar: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Biointerfaces 9014 St. Gallen Switzerland. ORCID
Jonathan Avaro: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Center for X-ray Analytics 8600 Dübendorf Switzerland.
Yvonne Elbs-Glatz: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Center for X-ray Analytics 8600 Dübendorf Switzerland.
Michael Chung: School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh King's Buildings EH9 3JL Edinburgh UK.
René M Rossi: Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Biomimetic Membranes and Textiles 9014 St. Gallen Switzerland rene.rossi@empa.ch. ORCID
Chronic wounds are characterized by a prolonged inflammation phase preventing the normal processes of wound healing and natural regeneration of the skin. To tackle this issue, electrospun nanofibers, inherently possessing a high surface-to-volume ratio and high porosity, are promising candidates for the design of anti-inflammatory drug delivery systems. In this study, we evaluated the ability of poly(ethylene--vinyl alcohol) nanofibers of various chemical compositions to release ibuprofen for the potential treatment of chronic wounds. First, the electrospinning of poly(ethylene--vinyl alcohol) copolymers with different ethylene contents (32, 38 and 44 mol%) was optimized in DMSO. The morphology and surface properties of the membranes were investigated state-of-the-art techniques and the influence of the ethylene content on the mechanical and thermal properties of each membrane was evaluated. Furthermore, the release kinetics of ibuprofen from the nanofibers in a physiological temperature range revealed that more ibuprofen was released at 37.5 °C than at 25 °C regardless of the ethylene content. Additionally, at 25 °C less drug was released when the ethylene content of the membranes increased. Finally, the scaffolds showed no cytotoxicity to normal human fibroblasts collectively paving the way for the design of electrospun based patches for the treatment of chronic wounds.
