INCORPORATION OF CIPROFLOXACIN/BETA CYCLODEXTRIN INCLUSION COMPLEX TO POLYLACTIC ACID ELECTROSPUN FIBERS AND MODELING OF THE RELEASE BEHAVIOR

The ciprofloxacin (CIP) hydrophobic drug and its inclusion complex, beta-cyclodextrin-CIP (IC) were encapsulated into micro- and nano-fibers of polylactic acid (PLA) via electrospinning technique to evaluate CIP release mechanism. The IC was characterized by 13C solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (SSNMR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to investigate the inclusion of complex formation. The PLA-IC and PLA-CIP fibers were characterized by TGA, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The release behavior of CIP as well as the loading efficiency percentage (LE%) was evaluated via UV-Vis at 276 nm. Results showing that IC inclusion complex improves the loading efficiency and also increase the control in drug release rate when compared with only CIP. That means CIP was released in a more prolonged and sustained manner from PLA-IC fibers versus PLA-CIP fibers. Different PLA-CIP and PLA-IC fiber diameters did not influence the release profile of the drug. The experimental results of CIP releasing were approximated with three commonly used semi-empirical models: Korsmeyer-Peppas, zero-order, and first-order kinetic equation to explain the release mechanism. The Korsmeyer-Peppas model showed the best fit to the PLA-CIP while the first-order model describes the best fit to PLA-IC as a consequence of the delayed release of CIP in IC.