Authors: Zahra Sadrearhami Mohammad Morshed Jaleh Varshosaz
Publish Date: 2015/03/06
Volume: 16, Issue: 2, Pages: 254-262
Abstract
Polyblend of agar and polyacrylonitrile containing methotrexate MTX were successfully electrospun into nanocomposite nanofibers to be used for controlled drug release in cancer treatment To evaluate the effects of polymer ratio and drug concentration on release rate solutions with different polyacrylonitrile/agar ratios were prepared and subsequently electrospun with different weight ratios of MTXpolymer Scanning electron microscopy was used to investigate the morphology of the electrospun nanofibers The results showed that increasing the drug and agar percentage led to increase in diameter due to increase in the solution blend viscosity FTIR spectrums were evaluated to investigate whether chemical interactions had taken place between the polymer and the drug DSC was used to show that drug molecules were present in the amorphous form in the nanofibers In vitro drug release studies performed in the phosphate buffer saline at pH 74 showed that release rates increased significantly with the raise of drug concentration Moreover drug release rates increased with increasing agar ratio due to the increased hydrophilicity of the drug delivery systems Overall this novel nanofibrous web proved to be capable of releasing MTX in a controlled manner that can be used as a locally controlled delivery system in cancer therapy
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