Polymer Engineering and Science, Vol.60, No.7, 1520-1529, 2020
PEG-PLA-PCL based electrospun yarns with curcumin control release property as suture
This work presents an interesting method using an electrospinning process to fabricate suture yarns loaded with curcumin to achieve reasonable mechanical properties as well as tunable drug release behavior. Different structures including different yarn counts and twists as well as core-sheath structures were used to adjust drug release properties along with improving the yarn's mechanical properties. The core parts were made of polycaprolactone and the sheath parts were made of polyethylene glycol, polylactic acid, and polycaprolactone. Drugs can be incorporated in both parts based on the required condition and application. Electrospun yarns were compared using both structural properties and their drug release profiles as metrics. The results of comparing drug release profiles of six electrospun yarns with different yarn counts and twists showed that yarns with finer fiber diameters in the core part have more drug release as well as more initial release. Overall evaluations showed that core-sheath drugloaded yarn with appropriate physical and mechanical properties can be a useful material as a drug delivery system to the site of damaged tissue. It can also be concluded that the amount and duration of drug release can be controlled using the structural parameters of electrospun yarns as an engineering tool for designing suture yarns with required properties.