Abstract

NANOFIBERS IN DRUG DELIVERY: AN OVERVIEW

Sunil Chandra U*., Shridhar N.B., Jagadeesh. S. Sanganal and Ravikumar.C

Abstract

Nanofibers are solid fibers with several remarkable nanoscale features, like very large ratio of surface area to mass, porous structure, and a theoretically unlimited length, together with a better mechanical performance and flexibility than any other form of the same material. Compared with other fabrication techniques, such as drawing, template synthesis and phase separation, electrospinning is a simple, elegant, reproducible, continuous and scalable technology with the ability to produce nanofibers from a wide variety of polymers. More recently, nanofibers of protein have been demonstrated to have promising use in tissue engineering. The unique properties of electrospun mats – high specific surface area and small pores are very favorable for the adsorption of liquids and for preventing bacteria penetration and thus provide good conditions for wound healing. Drug delivery with polymer nanofibers is based on the principle that dissolution rate of a drug particulate increases with increased surface area of both the drug and the corresponding carrier if necessary. For controlled drug delivery, in addition to their large surface area to volume ratio, polymer nanofibers also have other additional advantages. Nanofiber drug delivery systems may provide insight into the direct incorporation of bioactive growth factors into scaffolds. Additionally, drug delivery systems can be combined with implantable tissue engineering scaffolds to prevent infection while repair and regeneration occur. The future should see a move towards more in vivo testing, since the majority of work is currently done in vitro, in order to evaluate the performance of nanofibers in a biological environment. Consequently, more studies are needed to fully explore the potential of nanofibers for clinical applications.

Keywords: Nanofiber, Drug delivery, Electrospinning, Polymer.