Controllable delivery from gentamicin loaded polycaprolactone/grafted silica nanoparticles composite mats

Sustained and controlled drug delivery system has an important application in the field of tissue regeneration. In this study, drug loaded MCM-41 silica was used to fabricate nano-composite fibres for efficient and extended drug carrier in deep wounds dressing. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles were synthesized using the co-synthesis (Cl-SiO2@Co), and post-grafting methodologies (Cl-SiO2@Po). The gentamicin antibiotic loaded silica was incorporated in PCL solution to fabricate the PCL-based electro spun nano-composite mats through emulsion electrospinning method. The silica and electro spun nano-composite mats were characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) as well as BET surface analyzer to obtain the structural parameters. The silica and fabricated electro spun mats were also evaluated for biocompatibility through MIT assay. The loading of gentamicin on Cl-SiO2@Po was 26.1 w/w % and Cl-SiO2@Co was approximately 41 w/w %. The drug loaded silica/PCL nanocomposites electro spun mats was evaluated for drug release study for 336 h. In comparison to nano fibres of silica Cl-SiO2@Po (post-grafted), the release of gentamicin from the Cl-SiO2@Co (co-synthesized) fibres was very slow and almost half of the drug (54%) was released during two weeks. The obtained results suggest that the fabricated materials can be used as an extended drug delivery system in wounds dressings to prevent the microbial infection. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.