Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ 08028, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Aug 12;21(16):5780. doi: 10.3390/ijms21165780.
Diabetic patients are especially susceptible to chronic wounds of the skin, which can lead to serious complications. Sodium citrate is one potential therapeutic molecule for the topical treatment of diabetic ulcers, but its viability requires the assistance of a biomaterial matrix. In this study, nanofibers and thin films fabricated from natural corn zein protein are explored as a drug delivery vehicle for the topical drug delivery of sodium citrate. Corn zein is cheap and abundant in nature, and easily extracted with high purity, while nanofibers are frequently cited as ideal drug carriers due to their high surface area and high porosity. To further reduce costs, the 1-D nanofibers in this study were fabricated through an air jet-spinning method rather than the conventional electrospinning method. Thin films were also created as a comparative 2-D material. Corn zein composite nanofibers and thin films with different concentration of sodium citrate (1-30%) were analyzed through FTIR, DSC, TGA, and SEM. Results reveal that nanofibers are a much more effective vehicle than films, with the ability to interact with sodium citrate. Thermal analysis results show a stable material with low degradation, while FTIR reveals strong control over the protein secondary structures and hold of citrate. These tunable properties and morphologies allow the fibers to provide a sustained release of citrate and then revert to their structure prior to citrate loading. A statistical analysis via -test confirmed a significant difference between fiber and film drug release. A biocompatibility study also confirms that cells are much more tolerant of the porous nanofiber structure than the nonporous protein films, and lower percentages of sodium citrate (1-5%) were outperformed to higher percentages (15-30%). This study demonstrated that protein-based nanofiber materials have high potential as vehicles for the delivery of topical diabetic drugs.
糖尿病患者尤其容易出现皮肤慢性伤口，这可能导致严重的并发症。柠檬酸钠是一种潜在的治疗糖尿病溃疡的局部治疗药物分子，但它的可行性需要生物材料基质的辅助。在这项研究中，探索了天然玉米醇溶蛋白的纳米纤维和薄膜作为局部药物递送柠檬酸钠的药物递送载体。玉米醇溶蛋白在自然界中廉价且丰富，易于高纯度提取，而纳米纤维由于其高表面积和高孔隙率而常被认为是理想的药物载体。为了进一步降低成本，本研究通过空气射流纺丝法而不是传统的静电纺丝法来制造一维纳米纤维。还创建了薄膜作为比较的二维材料。通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）、差示扫描量热法（DSC）、热重分析（TGA）和扫描电子显微镜（SEM）对不同浓度柠檬酸钠（1-30%）的玉米醇溶蛋白复合纳米纤维和薄膜进行了分析。结果表明，纳米纤维比薄膜更有效，能够与柠檬酸钠相互作用。热分析结果表明，该材料具有稳定、低降解的特性，而 FTIR 则揭示了对蛋白质二级结构的强烈控制和对柠檬酸盐的保持。这些可调的性质和形态使纤维能够提供柠檬酸的持续释放，然后在加载柠檬酸之前恢复其结构。通过 t 检验进行的统计分析证实了纤维和薄膜药物释放之间存在显著差异。一项生物相容性研究还证实，与非多孔蛋白质薄膜相比，多孔纳米纤维结构的细胞耐受性更高，并且较低浓度（1-5%）的柠檬酸钠表现优于较高浓度（15-30%）。这项研究表明，基于蛋白质的纳米纤维材料具有作为局部糖尿病药物递送载体的高潜力。
