Design and characterization of curcumin-loaded electrospun nanofibers based on poly(vinyl alcohol) and sodium alginate

Raţă, Delia Mihaela and Cadinoiu, Anca Niculina and Grădinaru, Luiza Mădălina and Fuioaga, Paul Codrin and Vochita, Gabriela and Delaite, Christelle and Atanase, Leonard Ionuţ (2025) Design and characterization of curcumin-loaded electrospun nanofibers based on poly(vinyl alcohol) and sodium alginate. EXPRESS POLYMER LETTERS, 19 (3). pp. 233-245. ISSN 1788-618X

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Abstract

Curcumin (CRC) is a natural active principle with important anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, and antitumor properties but has some limitations, such as poor bioavailability, low water solubility, and rapid metabolism. To preserve CRC’s benefits and eliminate its limitations, novel CRC-loaded core-shell electrospun nanofibers were designed. The nanofibers were prepared by co-axial electrospinning method using poly(vinyl alcohol)/CRC as core and poly(vinyl alcohol)/sodium alginate as shell. Polymer coating protects the CRC, increasing its stability. The swelling degree of CRCloaded nanofibers at pH 5.4 was around 326% higher than at pH 7.4 (297%) due to the repulsions of the anion-anion COO–groups. The release efficiency of CRC at pH 7.4 was 81%, while at pH 5.4 was about 96%. In the first 6 h, there was a slower release of CRC from the nanofibers in both acidic and slightly alkaline environments. Nanofibers showed good hemocompatibility, the values being between 2.36–3.22% after the first 90 min of contact, and after 180 min of treatment, the degree of erythrocyte lysis was between 3.78 and 4.93%. Cell viability assay on V79-4 Chinese hamster fibroblasts demonstrated that treatment with free CRC led to a value of 39% whereas for CRC-loaded nanofibers, the cell viability value increased to 59.66%. The results of the present study indicated that CRC-loaded electrospun nanofibers can have great potential for biomedical applications.

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