In Vivo Quantitative Monitoring of Drug Release from Halo-Spun Rubbery Mats by Fluorescent Organism Bioimaging (FOBI)

This paper will present <i>in vivo</i> release profiles of Doxorubicin.HCl from halo-spun drug-loaded rubbery porous mats. For the very first time, Fluorescent Organism Bioimaging (FOBI) was used to follow drug release in a live animal model with induced tumors. A new predictive model based on apparent diffusion coefficients to simulate release profiles will also be presented and could have general applications for release profile predictions. Surprisingly, histological evaluation found that the tissue layer forming next to the drug-eluting mats had unordered morphology and only necrotic cells. This is a stunning contrast to the highly regular collagen structure next to mats without the drug, typical of an adverse foreign body type reaction. The findings suggest that this drug-eluting fiber mat can be used as a local chemotherapy approach coupled with mitigation of capsular contracture, the major complication associated with breast reconstruction following mastectomy.