Dual drug loaded polyhydroxy butyric acid/gelatin nanofibrous scaffold for possible post-surgery cancer treatment

Abstract

The design of nanofibrous scaffold with dual-drugs have gained much interest for treatment of tissue defect after the post-surgery cancer site. Herein, we report the electrospinning of poly (3-hydroxybutyric acid) (P) and gelatin (G) nanofibrous scaffold with incorporation of 5-flurouracil (FU) (hydrophilic) and methotrexate (MT) (hydrophobic) as a dual-drug carrier to impart synergetic effect at post-surgery cancer site. The surface morphology of the nanofibrous scaffold were examined at different magnification. The in vitro release results demonstrated the sustained release over the period of 96 h. The in vitro cell cytotoxicity and fluorescent images of live and dead cells clearly exhibited strong antitumor activity against MCF-7 and MIA PaCa-2 cells. Moreover, both hydrophilic and hydrophobic drug showed a reasonable burst release from the scaffold. Thus, the nanofibrous scaffold could be a versatile system for the delivery of dual-drugs and as an implantable scaffold for post-surgery cancer treatment.