Dispersion and release of embelin from electrospun biodegradable, polymeric, membranes

PABLO R. CORTEZ TORNELLO; GABRIELA E. FERESIN; ALEJANDRO TAPIA; ITIARA G VEIGA; ÂNGELA M MORAES; GUSTAVO A ABRAHAM; TERESITA R CUADRADO

POLYMER JOURNAL

SOC POLYMER SCIENCE JAPAN

Lugar: Tokio; Año: 2012 p. 1 - 7

0032-3896

In this work, microfiber meshes containing embelin, a poorly water-soluble bioactive agent, were prepared by solubilizingembelin in a biodegradable and biocompatible polymer matrix of poly(e-caprolactone) (PCL). Plain or drug-loaded, highlyporous, fibrous membranes with a high area-to-volume ratio were obtained by electrospinning. Non-woven microfibrous mesheswere formed by uniform bead-free fibers with a mean diameter of 1.2 lm. Non-porous films were obtained by solution casting,and were used for comparison. The drug-loading content of the prepared systems was appropriate for topical applications. Thethermal properties revealed that the crystallinity of embelin significantly decreased, the drug having almost completelydissolved in the PCL fibers. The in situ bioavailability of embelin, an antimycotic agent, is an important aspect to consider intopical drug applications. The drug-loaded systems presented different contact areas with the biological environment. Whencomparing the ability to expose embelin with the biological environment of the prepared systems, drug-loaded fibrous scaffoldsshowed a higher bioavailability of the bioactive agent because of an increase by 86% in the area-to-volume ratio, providingan effective area per unit mass that was 5.8-fold higher than that of the film. For the meshes, 90% embelin release wasobserved after 12 h of exposure to phosphate-buffered saline, whereas for the films a comparable level of release occurredonly after 72 h