RESUMO
The electrospinning technique is a useful and versatile approach for conversion of polymeric solutions into continuous fibers, ranging from a few micrometers (10-100 µm) to the scale of nanometers (10- 100 nm) in diameters. This technique can be used in a vast number of polymers, in some cases after modifying them to the required properties. The high surface-to-volume ratio of the fibers can improve some processes like cell binding and proliferation, drug loading, and mass transfer processes. One of the most important and studied areas of electrospinning is in the drug delivery field, for the controlled release of active substances ranging from antibiotics and anticancer agents, to macromolecules such as proteins and DNA. The advantage of this method is that a wide variety of low solubility drugs can be loaded into the fibers to improve their bioavailability or to attain controlled release. This review presents an overview of the reported drugs loaded into electrospun polymeric nanofibers to be used as drug delivery systems. These drugs are classified by their applications in pharmacy.
Assuntos
Antibacterianos/química , Antineoplásicos/química , Sistemas de Liberação de Medicamentos , Nanofibras/química , Polímeros/química , Portadores de Fármacos/química , Eletricidade , Humanos , Tamanho da Partícula , Propriedades de SuperfícieRESUMO
Recently, electrospun polymeric nanofibers have proven to be an interesting strategy for drug delivery systems application. The high surface-to-volume ratio of the fibers can improve some processes, such as cell binding and proliferation, drug loading, and mass transfer processes. One of the most important and studied areas of electrospinning is in the drug delivery field, for the controlled release of active substances ranging from antibiotics and anticancer agents to macromolecules such as proteins and DNA. The advantage of this method is that a wide variety of low solubility drugs can be loaded into the fibers to improve their bioavailability or to attain controlled release. This review presents an overview of the reported drugs loaded into polymeric nanofibers, to be used as drug delivery systems. For instance, it presents the reports on drugs with different bioactivities such as antiinflammatory, anti-microbial, anticancer, cardiovascular, anti-histamine, gastrointestinal, palliative and contraceptive drugs, etc. It also analyzes the electrospinning techniques used in each system, as well as the polymers used as matrices for the preparation of the nanofibers; unfolding the advantages of electrospun polymeric nanofibers over other drug delivery systems. This review intends to enlist and summarize the reported literature concerning this topic. In addition, it proposes future research in the field.