Preparation and Evaluation of Extended-Release Nanofibers Loaded with Pramipexole as a Novel Oral Drug Delivery System: Hybridization of Hydrophilic and Hydrophobic Polymers

Purpose Pramipexole (Prami) is renowned as one of the most widely used drugs in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. This study aimed to prepare slow-release nanofibers of Prami to reduce (or control) the release rate of the drug from the formulation. Methods For this purpose, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) nanofibers loaded with Prami were fabricated using the electrospinning technique and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). A test has been conducted to evaluate the swelling of the formulations and an HPLC method has been used to assess the effect of both co-electrospinning with polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers and cross-linking using glutaraldehyde (GA) vapors on the release kinetics. Results The results showed that the co-electrospun nanofibers cross-linked by 12-h exposure to GA vapor exhibited slow release compared to non-hybrid and non-cross-linked fibers. The cell viability assay using the MTT test showed that the nanofibers were cytocompatibility regarding SFIF-PI 44 cell line. The hybrid cross-linked nanofibers were placed in the gelatin shell capsule, and the dissolution profile of the drug in the capsules was investigated. Conclusions These results indicated that using nanofibers as the carrier encapsulated in the conventional capsule dosage form can be considered as a new formulation to reduce the used excipients and ease of production.