Engineering of Ethosuximide‐Loaded Polylactic Acid/Bismuth Ferrite Electrospun Fibers for the Epilepsy Treatment

ABSTRACT Epilepsy is a disease that arises from the disruption of nerve conduction in different parts of the brain due to intense and repetitive discharge of nerve cells, and some of the symptoms manifest through seizures. The low bioavailability of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) used for treatment and the inability to administer drugs orally during seizures highlight the need for new drug delivery systems. In the present study, the effect of ethosuximide (ETX) supplementation to polylactic acid (PLA)/bismuth ferrite (BFO, BiFeO 3 ) mixture on epileptic seizures was investigated in detail. ETX‐loaded fibers were created by adding ETX in different ratios (10, 15, and 20 mg) through the same procedures. The morphological analysis showed that the minimum diameter belonged to the 10% PLA fibers. According to the tensile testing results, the 10% PLA + 5 mg BFO fiber had the highest tensile strength value (2.49 ± 1.01 MPa). The biocompatibility results, performed with the human neuroblastoma cell line (SH‐SY5Y), demonstrated that all fibers had no cytotoxic effect. The ETX release was performed both under and without an electric field in vitro conditions. The results demonstrated that the ETX released faster from fibers under an electric field.