title: Development of braided drug-loaded nanofiber sutures.
abstract: The objectives of this work are twofold. Firstly, while most work on electrospinning is limited to the development of only functional materials, a structural application of electrospun nanofibers is explored. Secondly, a drug-loaded tissue suture is fabricated and its various properties are characterized. Braided drug-loaded nanofiber sutures are obtained by combining an electrospinning process with a braiding technique followed by a coating procedure. Two different electrospinning techniques, i.e. blend and coaxial electrospinning, to incorporate a model drug cefotaxime sodium (CFX-Na) into poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofibers have been applied and compared with each other. Properties of the braided drug-loaded sutures are characterized through a variety of methods including SEM, TEM and tensile testing. The results show that the nanofibers had a preferable micromorphology. The drug was incorporated into the polymer nanofibers homogeneously, with no cross-linking. The nanofibers maintained their fibrous structures. An in vitro release study indicates that the drug-loaded nanofibers fabricated by blend electrospinning and coaxial electrospinning had a different drug release behavior. An inhibition zone experiment shows that both sutures obtained from the nanofibers of the different electrospinning techniques had favorable antibacterial properties. The drug-loaded sutures had preferable histological compatibility performance compared with commercial silk sutures in an in vivo comparative study.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Zheng-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xiang-Yang
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D002439:Cefotaxime / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004563:Electrochemistry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000187:drug effects; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects; D013537:Sutures
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D019344:Lactic Acid; D002439:Cefotaxime