Introduction:

Recently, Professor Min Zhao from Queen's University Belfast introduced electrospinning technology for biological drug delivery, including its current status and future trends. This work aims to provide valuable insights into the growing field of electrospinning biologic drug delivery systems. Related content titled "Electrospinning technologies for the delivery of Biopharmaceuticals: Current status and future trends, "published in the International Journal of Pharmaceutics.

Key points of this article:
1. This paper reviews the application of electrospinning technology in biologic drug delivery, focusing on different types of biologic drugs, such as protein, nucleic acid and hormone drugs, as well as their complexes with polymer nanofibers.
2. Various methods of incorporating biologic drugs into electrospinning fibers, such as surface adsorption, blending, emulsion, coaxial and high flux electrospinning, are described in detail.
3. In addition, the current research status and future development trend of electrospinning technology in the field of biological drug delivery were also discussed.
4. Analytical techniques for characterizing electrospun fibers are outlined, and the legal and regulatory requirements for their production are discussed.

Electrospinning nanofiber drug incorporation method:

There are two main methods of drug incorporation in electrospun fibers, namely surface adsorption and encapsulation.

1. Surface adsorption: A relatively simple process, the drug load and release rate usually depends on the nature of the fiber surface and adsorption method, but the composition and stability are key issues to be solved.

2. Drug encapsulation: Involves dissolving the drug into the electrospinning solution prior to electrospinning, thus dispersing the drug directly in the fiber. The preparation process and method determine the structure, encapsulation efficiency and drug release behavior in such fibers.

Application of electrospinning technology in biological drug delivery system

Electrospinning technology has a wide range of applications in biopharmaceutical delivery systems, including wound dressings, ocular delivery, transdermal delivery, vaginal delivery, and oral targeting of drugs.

1. Wound dressing: Electrospun nanofibers can be used to prepare wound dressing, with good biocompatibility, degradability and high surface area, can promote wound healing.

2. Eye delivery: Electrospun nanofibers can be used to prepare an eye delivery system, which can improve the residence time of drugs on the eye surface, enhance drug permeability, and reduce drug side effects.

3. Transdermal delivery: Electrospun nanofibers can be used to prepare transdermal delivery systems, which can be directly administered through the skin to avoid gastrointestinal absorption and improve drug bioavailability.

4. Vaginal delivery: Electrospun nanofibers can be used to prepare a vaginal delivery system, which can deliver drugs directly to the vagina, improve the local concentration of drugs, and enhance the therapeutic effect.

5. Oral targeting: Electrospun nanofibers can be used to prepare oral targeted delivery systems, which can target drug delivery to specific parts of the intestine, improve drug absorption rate and reduce drug side effects.

Challenges and future prospects of electrospinning technology

Electrospinning technology faces several challenges in drug delivery systems, including drug stability, scale production, and regulatory requirements.

1. Drug stability: Organic solvents used in the electrospinning process may cause drug degradation, so new electrospinning methods need to be developed to avoid the use of organic solvents.

2. Large-scale production: Electrospinning technology is still difficult to achieve large-scale production, the need to develop new electrospinning equipment and processes to improve production efficiency.

3. Regulatory requirements: The application of electrospinning technology in biopharmaceutical delivery systems needs to meet stringent regulatory requirements, including safety, effectiveness and quality control.

The application of electrospinning technology in biopharmaceutical delivery system has broad prospects, and with the continuous progress of technology, electrospinning technology is expected to play an increasingly important role in the field of biopharmaceutical.

FIG.1 Distribution of ongoing clinical trials by target disease (a) and different types of biopharmaceuticals (b) in October 2023.

FIG. 2 Schematic diagram of electrospraying (a) and electrospinning (b). (c) Schematic diagram of the effects of parameters on electrospraying and electrospinning products.

FIG. 3 Schematic diagram of electrospinning for coaxial (A), emulsion (B) and blend (C). Cross-section of core-shell fibers (E) and monolithic fibers (F).

FIG. 4 Schematic diagram of different types of fiber receivers: (a) spiral coil, (b) rotating ball, (c) rotating disc, and (d) rotating cylinder.

FIG. 5 Scanning electron micrographs of electrostatic spinning nanofiber pad and grinding nanofiber pad.

FIG. 6 Preparation of three-layer wound dressing.

FIG. 7 Successful preparation of fiber-hydrogel scaffold.

FIG. 8 Representative confocal microscope images of lactic acid bacteria expressing different fluorescent proteins compared to non-transformed bacteria.

Original text link：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpharm.2023.123641

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