Fabrication of epirubicin loaded core/shell electrospun fibers with effective transdermal sustained-release properties

Abstract Epirubicin-loaded polyacrylonitrile nanofibers were fabricated by the low energy water-in-oil emulsion electrospinning technique using the drug solution as the aqueous phase and the N, N- dimethylformamide solution of polyacrylonitrile as the oil phase. Tween 80 as a surfactant was applied to contribute to the formation of the core/shell structure of fibers. The in vitro drug release of these drug-loaded nanofibers obeyed the Korsmeyer-Peppas equation, by exhibiting a good sustained-release performance. In addition, in vitro permeation studies across artificial human skin showed that the prepared nanofibers had effective transdermal sustained-release behavior and the optimum drug cumulative amounts reached 61% in 24 h. The nanofiber membrances exhibited good flexibility and high tensile strength (7.93 MPa), which favors their potential application in transdermal drug delivery.