Electrospun Nanofibers as Carriers in Dermal Drug Delivery

Abstract

Nanotechnology has opened a new direction in biomedical sciences. Nanomedicine and nanodelivery systems offer multiple benefits in treatment of diseases by site-specific and target-oriented delivery of many drugs. Among the various forms of nanocarrier systems, nanofibers have recently proved to be a versatile carrier system for drug delivery applications due to their attractive properties such as target-specific, prolonged delivery of drugs, and ease of fabrication. Polymeric nanofibers can be produced using several techniques such as phase separation, self-assembly, and electrospinning. Electrospinning is a versatile, cost-effective, and scalable technique using electrostatic forces to produce fine fibers from polymer solutions or melts. The nanofiber production by electrospinning enables higher drug loading and entrapment efficiency compared to other nanodelivery systems prepared by other methods. Electrospun nanofibers can be fabricated from a wide variety of solutions of either natural or synthetic polymers, as well as combinations thereof. The type of the polymer can be chosen depending on the treatment, on the nature of the drug, and on the compatibility with the biological environment. During the last several decades, polymeric nanofibers have been explored as controlled drug delivery systems for dermal, transdermal, oral, oromucosal, parenteral, and ocular routes. Recently, electrospun nanofibers have gained more popularity for the topical and transdermal drug delivery and wound dressing applications. Especially, the unique architectural properties like nanoscale morphology, porous structure, and flexibility of electrospun nanofibers make them a suitable option for developing novel wound dressings. However, despite the numerous attractive features of nanofiber composites in drug delivery applications, there are certain major drawbacks which need to be overcome. Drug stability, initial burst release, and scale-up problems foremost require to be solved before bringing nanofiber technology into mainstream drug delivery technologies. In this chapter, first, the basic concepts of electrospinning process and the characterization techniques of electrospun nanofibers are discussed. Then, the most widely used polymers in the composition of drug-loaded nanofibers are presented, and recent applications of nanofibers in dermal drug delivery and wound healing are described.