Structure–property relationship and controlled drug release from multiphasic electrospun carvacrol-embedded polylactic acid/polyethylene glycol and polylactic acid/polyethylene oxide nanofiber mats

Abstract

Electrospinning technologies gained considerable interest over the last decade. In this study, it is proposed a systematic study of polylactic acid/polyethylene glycol (PLA/PEG) and polylactic acid/polyethylene oxide (PLA/PEO) electrospun blends at different concentrations. The effect of blend composition and PEG molecular weight on the morphological and mechanical properties of the mats was evaluated. Furthermore, the kinetic release of carvacrol as model drug in phosphate buffer saline at 37℃ was studied and the data were then fitted using an exponential model. The scanning electron microscopy revealed that the morphology of the mats was strongly dependent on the relative ratio PLA:PEG, PLA:PEO and in the presence of carvacrol. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the mats as well as their carvacrol release rate were successfully tuned by changing the relative ratio of the blend components.