Paclitaxel loaded electrospun porous nanofibers as mat potential application for chemotherapy against prostate cancer

A highly porous chitosan nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning chitosan/polyethylene oxide (PEO) blend solutions and then removing PEO with water. The porous morphology of the nanofibers was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The porous nanofibers were soaked in 0.1 wt% paclitaxel solution to load the cancer drug. Then a polyanion nature macromolecular hyaluronic acid (HA) was encapsulated on the chitosan polycation porous nanofibers by immersing the fibers into a 4 wt% HA aqueous solution. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) were used to investigate the polymer formation and the interaction among two nature macromolecular and the cancer drugs. The paclitaxel release profiles of the encapsulated fibers in PBS were analyzed by UV–vis spectrophotometer. In vitro DU145 prostate cancer cells activities of the nanofibers were examined by MTT. Cell culture results showed that the PTX-loaded nanofibers mats were good in prohibiting the cell attachment and proliferation. These results strongly suggested that the chitosan/hyaluronic acid fibers had an effect of controlled release of paclitaxel and were suitable for postoperative chemotherapy of prostate cancers.