The Impact of Polymer Mixture Composition on the Properties of Electrospun Membranes for Drug Delivery Applications

Orally dispersible films (ODFs) prepared by an electrospinning are a novel type of pharmaceutical formulation. This dosage form has the potential to be beneficial for small children and the elderly, who can have problems with administration of classical tablets due to the increased risk of choking and difficulty with swallowing. Due to the highly porous nanofiber morphology, the ODFs examined in this study achieve rapid disintegration into drug microparticles when in contact with saliva. The suspension is then easier to swallow. In this study, we focus on the impact of film composition (polymer matrix composition) on the properties of electrospun membranes.

In particular, we prepared ODFs composed of a mixture of PEG 100 000 with HPMC E5 and PVP k90 with HPMC E5. We found significant differences in the structure of electrospinned membranes, where samples containing PEG 100 000 and HPMC E5 exhibited much narrower distribution of fibers. Furthermore, nanofibers containing PVP k90 exhibit a faster disintegration rate, while dissolution of the drug was faster in the case of PEG 100 000 containing ODFs. The improvement was caused by both the structure and composition of the membranes.

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Chemicals

Meloxicam was kindly provided by Zentiva k.s. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), monopotassium phosphate (KH2PO4), LiCl and KCl were purchased from Lachner (Czech Republic). Sodium hydroxide (NaOH), isopropyl alcohol (IPA), and ethanol were purchased from Penta Chemicals (Czech Republic). Sucralose, sucrose, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Polyethylene glycol 100 000 (shorten to PEG) with molecular weight of 100 kDa and Polyvinylpyrrolidone k90 (shorten to PVP) with molecular weight of 360 kDa.

Dominik Švára, Barbora Filipová, Petr Jelínek, Petr Mikeš, Anna Kluk, Miroslav Šoóš, The Impact of Polymer Mixture Composition on the Properties of Electrospun Membranes for Drug Delivery Applications, International Journal of Pharmaceutics, 2023, 123548, ISSN 0378-5173, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.123548.

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