Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
J Am Chem Soc. 2012 Feb 1;134(4):2016-9. doi: 10.1021/ja211148a. Epub 2012 Jan 18.
We have prepared 3D superhydrophobic materials from biocompatible building blocks, where air acts as a barrier component in a porous electrospun mesh to control the rate at which drug is released. Specifically, we fabricated poly(ε-caprolactone) electrospun meshes containing poly(glycerol monostearate-co-ε-caprolactone) as a hydrophobic polymer dopant, which results in meshes with a high apparent contact angle. We demonstrate that the apparent contact angle of these meshes dictates the rate at which water penetrates into the porous network and displaces entrapped air. The addition of a model bioactive agent (SN-38) showed a release rate with a striking dependence on the apparent contact angle that can be explained by this displacement of air within the electrospun meshes. We further show that porous electrospun meshes with higher surface area can be prepared that release more slowly than control nonporous constructs. Finally, the entrapped air layer within superhydrophobic meshes is shown to be robust in the presence of serum, as drug-loaded meshes were efficacious against cancer cells in vitro for >60 days, thus demonstrating their applicability for long-term drug delivery.
我们已经从生物相容性的构建块中制备了 3D 超疏水材料，其中空气作为多孔电纺网中的一个阻隔组件来控制药物释放的速率。具体来说，我们制造了含有聚（甘油单硬脂酸酯-co-ε-己内酯）的聚己内酯电纺网作为疏水性聚合物掺杂剂，这导致了具有高表观接触角的网。我们证明了这些网的表观接触角决定了水进入多孔网络并置换被困空气的速率。添加模型生物活性剂（SN-38）显示出释放速率与表观接触角显著相关，这可以通过电纺网内空气的置换来解释。我们进一步表明，可以制备具有更高表面积的多孔电纺网，其释放速度比对照的非多孔结构更慢。最后，在存在血清的情况下，超疏水网中的被困空气层被证明是坚固的，因为负载药物的网在体外对癌细胞的疗效超过 60 天，因此证明了它们在长期药物输送中的适用性。
