Preparation of Porous Core-Shell Poly L-Lactic Acid/Polyethylene Glycol Superfine Fibres Containing Drug.

Abstract

In this paper, poly L-lactic acid (PLLA) blended with polyethylene glycol (PEG) was dissolved in methylene dichloride solution as the shell solution, and rapamycin (RAPA), was encapsulated inside the core of PLLA micro/nano fibres as a model drug. The effects of the blending ratio of PLLA to PEG, the concentration of the electrospinning solution, the voltage, the flow rate, and the encapsulation efficiency were studied. Uniform and porous RAPA-Loading PLLA fibres were obtained when the ratio of PLLA to PEG was 7/3, the concentration of PLLA was 3%, the applied voltage was 7.5 kV, and the pump speed was V(core) = 0.1 mL/h, V(shell) = 1 mL/h, repectively. The average diameter of PLLA fibres increased with the gradual increase in PLLA concentration. FTIR results showed that RAPA was successfully encapsulated into the core-co-shell PLLA fibres. Meanwhile, the RAPA-loading of coaxial electrospun PLLA fibres was significantly higher than that of the blending electrospun fibres. It was also found that the porous core-shell PLLA/PEG blending superfine fibres could regulate the appearance of pore on the surface of superfine fibres by adjusting the electrospinning parameters. The porous PLLA/PEG blending fibres can be used as drug carriers and, to improve the single way of drug release depending on the degradation of shell material to meet different need. It will be a remarkable breakthrough in the area for sustained and controlled release drug delivery system.