Electrospinner: Progress in electrospray technology in particle preparation

Overview of electrospray technology

Electrospray technology is a method of spraying drug solutions into microparticles using high-voltage electrostatic fields. This technology can produce microparticles up to nanometer size, with high encapsulation efficiency (more than 80%), and can protect the biological activity of biomacromolecules. Microparticles prepared by ES technology can encapsulate active substances such as small molecule drugs, proteins, nucleotides, growth factors, cells, etc., and have targeting, and can achieve localized drug release by adding responsive materials.

Preparation method of electrospray technology

Single-channel nozzle electrospray method: suitable for situations where the drug and material have good compatibility, which can reduce drug waste.

Coaxial double-channel nozzle electrospray method: commonly used to prepare core-shell microparticles, which can improve the bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs.

Coaxial three-channel nozzle electrospray method: used to prepare microparticles with core layer-intermediate layer-shell structure, which is helpful for the development of multi-chamber drug delivery dosage forms.

Supercritical assisted electrospray method (SA-ES): overcomes the problem of difficult elimination of organic solvents in the evaporation process of ES technology and improves production speed.

Classification of carrier materials

Stimuli-responsive polymers: including pH-responsive materials, thermosensitive materials, photothermal materials, oxidative stress materials and magnetic materials.

Polyester materials: such as PLGA and PCL, have good biocompatibility and encapsulation rate.

Natural polymer materials: such as alginate and chitosan, which are cheap but may cause allergic reactions.

Influencing factors

Concentration of ES carrier materials: affects the morphology and stability of particles.

Nozzle size: affects the particle size and shape of particles.

Flow rate and voltage: changes in flow rate and voltage directly affect the particle size of particles.

Combination of electrospinning and electrospraying

The combination of electrospinning and electrospraying can produce fiber structures with high strength and excellent mechanical properties

This synergistic effect can break through the bottleneck of existing technologies and improve the overall performance of fiber structures

By precisely controlling the process parameters, high-precision manufacturing of micro-nano fiber structures can be achieved, and the mechanical properties of fiber structures can be significantly improved by functional coatings

Summary and Outlook

ES technology is a simple and rapid method for preparing drug-loaded microparticles with many advantages, such as high encapsulation efficiency, optimized drug release rate, reduced use of organic solvents, and controllable particle size range. Microparticles prepared by ES technology can be used for multiple routes of administration, including systemic or local administration. Although ES technology has some challenges in the preparation process, such as many interactive factors of process conditions, difficult collection, and easy aggregation of microparticles, it is still a potential industrial technology. Future research should focus on the development of multifunctional microparticles, such as combined therapy, diagnosis, targeted drug delivery, and treatment response monitoring.

Electrospinning Nanofibers Article Source:

Chinese Journal of New Drugs