Drug Release Behavior of a Drug-Loaded Polylactide Nanofiber Web Prepared via Laser-Electrospinning

In recent years drug-loaded nanofibers prepared using solution electrospinning methods have been actively studied. However, there are a number of problems connected to their solution electrospinning with respect to medical applications because of the hazards associated with the residual solvents. To avoid the use of solvents in this study we prepared and evaluated drug-loaded polylactide (PLA) fiber webs using a laser-electrospinning (LES) type of a melt electrospinning process. The structures and properties of the obtained drug-loaded PLA fiber webs were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, wide-angle X-ray diffraction and UV–vis spectrometry. As shown by the various characterization techniques, we employed LES to prepare PLA nanofiber webs with average fiber diameters of 4.21 and 0.67?μm. Additionally, the webs were loaded with argatroban, a thrombin inhibitor, resulting in amorphous structures for both the argatroban and the PLA matrix. An in-vitro investigation of the drug release behavior of the webs revealed that higher release rates occurred for the fiber samples with the small fiber diameters, particularly in comparison with melt spun fibers with an average diameter of 150?μm. Overall, we expect that the herein described drug-loaded PLA nanofiber webs can be applied as medical materials with drug delivery system functions.