Electrospun nanofibers incorporated with β-cyclodextrin as a delivery system of doxorubicin

In the present study, a drug-delivery system based on electrospun nanofiber was developed. Polyamide (PA) as a fibers matrix was employed for the delivery of the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX). The nanofiber (NFs) was initially modified by incorporating β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) to generate an inclusion complex of β-CD and drug. The modified nanofiber was subsequently fabricated via an electrospinning approach of DOX/β-CD-incorporated PA. For understanding the role of β-CD in the inclusion of DOX, a DOX-incorporated nanofiber (i.e., PA/β-CD) was fabricated for comparison. β-CD enhanced the loading of DOX into PA NFs, resulting in an increased loading efficiency of 56% (PA/β-CD/DOX), compared to 47% for PA/DOX. In addition, the release profile of DOX and the effect of β-CD on the release behavior were investigated. The results demonstrated a substantial release of the drug (total release =  ~ 92%) from PA/β-CD/DOX NFs, with a slower release rate (within 4 days) compared to PA/DOX without β-CD (total release =  ~ 77%). Consequently, β-CD played a significant role in the sustained release of the drug. The viability of prostate cancer and LNCap cells in response to the drug was assessed for the NFs. The decreased cell viability observed in PA/β-CD/DOX indicates a sustained and controlled release behavior for this drug carrier system.