Harnessing electrospinning for improvement of polymeric drug delivery systems

Abstract Polymeric nanofibers are highly attractive for several healthcare applications, due to their biocompatibility, high surface area, and versatility. This set of properties makes polymeric nanofibers a valuable biomaterial to be used in, e.g., tissue engineering, wound dressings, and implantable devices. Also, these polymeric nanofibers can be used as a drug delivery system, serving as carriers of therapeutic agents to enable controlled dosage and targeted drug delivery. For the production of these polymeric nanofibers, electrospinning stands as an easy-to-implement technique for the continuous manufacturing process. Electrospinning is capable of producing a wide range of biocompatible fibers with a precise diameter and structure, being a valuable method to craft drug delivery carriers. However, some inherent drawbacks of the electrospinning process must be addressed to widespread use in the development in drug delivery systems. Such limitations include the difficulty of scaling up, sensitivity to ambient conditions, the need for high voltage, limited production rate, and environmental concerns depending on the type of solvents. In this review, we explore novel applications of electrospun carriers to overcome these identified challenges. We discuss the features and fundamentals of electrospinning by analyzing the impact of process parameters. Different electrospinning techniques for the production of drug delivery systems (monoaxial, coaxial, triaxial, centrifugal, air jet, and pressurized gyration spinning) are also studied, together with approaches for drug encapsulation using innovative electrospinning devices.