| dc.description.abstract | In this study, composite electrospun fibers were fabricated to develop drug loaded
scaffolds. Firstly, different ratios of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were
incorporated to polylactic acid (PLA) to strengthen electrospun fibers. Compared to
thick PLA with random diameters, the use of MWCNTs resulted in uniform and thin
fibers due to their good conductivity. Although excess MWCNTs in polymer may
aggregate together, fibers with 0.5 wt% MWCNTs (0.5 CNT) performed the best
mechanical property. To modulate drug release behavior, different ratios of
hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) were applied to 0.5 CNT. The PEG
incorporation was examined by water contact angle, FTIR, and XPS analyses.
Although the mechanical strengths of PEG containing fibers decreased with PEG
ratios, they were still higher than that of the PLA only fibers. In addition, incorporated
PEG reduced Tg of spun fibers and enhanced ductility. The cell culture experiments
suggested that fabricated fibers all demonstrated good biocompatibility. Finally,
dexamethasone (Dex), an osteogenic inducer, was loaded to PLA/MWCNT/PGE
fibers and was confirmed by FTIR and XPS. The XPS results suggested that loaded
Dex mainly stayed the surfaces of PLA fibers, whereas even distributed in MWCNTs
containing fibers. Drug release experiments demonstrated that released Dex was
manipulated by PEG ratios that the more PEG in fibers, the faster Dex released. These
properties indicated that our developed drug-loaded PLA/MWCNT/PEG fibers not
only promoted mechanical strength, but also regulated drug release behavior, thus
should be potential to bone tissue regeneration application.
Key words：electrospun、drug-loaded scaffolds | en_US |