Abstract
New biomaterials are sought for the development of bioengineered nanostructures. In the present study, electrospun nanofibers have been synthesized by using poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic acid) and poly(methyl vinyl ether-alt-maleic ethyl monoester) (PMVEMA-Ac and PMVEMA-ES, respectively) as building polymers for the first time. To further functionalize these materials, nanofibers of PMVEMA-Ac and PMVEMA-ES containing a conjugated polyelectrolyte (HTMA-PFP, blue emitter, and HTMA-PFNT, red emitter) were achieved with both forms maintaining a high solid state fluorescence yield without altered morphology. Also, 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) was incorporated within these nanofibers, where it remained chemically stable. In all cases, nanofiber diameters were less than 150 nm as determined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and encapsulation efficiency of 5-ALA was 97 ± 1% as measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Both polymeric matrices showed rapid release kinetics in vertical cells (Franz cells) and followed Higuchi kinetics. In addition, no toxicity of nanofibers, in the absence of light, was found in HaCaT and SW480 cell lines. Finally, it was shown that loaded 5-ALA was functional, as it was internalized by cells in nanofiber-treated cultures and served as a substrate for the generation of protoporphyrin IX, suggesting these pharmaceutical vehicles are suitable for photodynamic therapy applications.
Highlights
Nanotechnology has gained new impetus recently thanks to the solutions it offers for both the development of new biomedical applications and the improvement of conventional ones[1,2,3]
Initial efforts were focused on the optimization of the conditions to obtain electrospun nanofibers of PMVE/MA derivatives
Nanofibers were obtained with both PMVE/MA forms, but only those based on PMVE/MA-Ac met proposed quality standards, whereas PMVE/MA-ES ones were irregular and with beads (Supplementary Fig. S1A)
Summary
Nanotechnology has gained new impetus recently thanks to the solutions it offers for both the development of new biomedical applications and the improvement of conventional ones[1,2,3]. By using appropriate polymer/s, such assemblies can be designed, for instance, to contain molecules of very different nature, size and water solubility and to control their release and maintain concentrations at therapeutically relevant levels for prolonged periods[8,15]. They can be shaped and size-adjusted to match the requirements of the delivery route/device of choice. Different techniques including vapor deposition[18,19], phase separation[11,20,21], self-assembly[22,23,24] and centrifugal spinning[25,26,27] can be used to synthesize such nanofibers, but electrospinning is the most widely adopted one due to its advantages for implementation/commercialization purposes[28,29,30,31]
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