Abstract
In traditional pharmaceutics, drug–crystalline nanoparticles and drug–polymer composites are frequently explored for their ability to modify drug release profiles. In this study, a novel sort of hybrid with a coating of acyclovir crystalline nanoparticles on acyclovir-polyacrylonitrile composites was fabricated using modified, coaxial electrospinning processes. The developed acyclovir-polyacrylonitrile at the acyclovir nanohybrids was loaded with various amounts of acyclovir, which could be realized simply by adjusting the sheath fluid flow rates. Compared with the electrospun composite nanofibers from a single-fluid blending process, the nanohybrids showed advantages of modifying the acyclovir release profiles in the following aspects: (1) the initial release amount was more accurately and intentionally controlled; (2) the later sustained release was nearer to a zero-order kinetic process; and (3) the release amounts at different stages could be easily allocated by the sheath fluid flow rate. X-ray diffraction results verified that the acyclovir nanoparticles were in a crystalline state, and Fourier-transform infrared spectra verified that the drug acyclovir and the polymer polyacrylonitrile had a good compatibility. The protocols reported here could pave the way for developing new types of functional nanostructures.
Highlights
Drug delivery is always anticipated to be “safe, effective, and convenient” for patients [1,2,3,4,5]
It is not unusual that many new methods have been introduced in the preparation of double-stage, release-medicated materials, such as coaxial electrospinning and electrospraying [45,46,47], side-by-side electrospinning [48], and electrospraying [49]
XRD results verified that these particles were crystalline nanoparticles of ACY, and Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra verified that the drug ACY and the polymer PAN have a good compatibility
Summary
Drug delivery is always anticipated to be “safe, effective, and convenient” for patients [1,2,3,4,5]. During the past half a century, both pharmaceutical technologies and excipients broadly expanded to create novel functional materials for realizing a wide variety of modified release profiles of active ingredients, which show potential applications in drug delivery, food engineering, cosmetics, and so on [12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. Different from the uni-axial nanofibers, core–shell nanofibers can provide the desired drug-modified release profiles from more adjustable elements, as well as the properties of polymer matrices [74] These elements include the properties of polymeric matrices (the only reliable matrix for homogeneous nanofibers), and the structural parameters, e.g., the core and sheath polymers or even little molecules, the organizations of the sheath and core materials, the distributions of the functional ingredients, the blank coating, and so on [75].
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