Biaxial Electrospinning of Poly(lactic acid)/Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) Blend and Polyvinylpyrrolidone Membranes for Topical Delivery of Betamethasone Valerate

Psoriasis is one of the most common skin diseases in the world, and its treatment results in an improvement in the quality of life of patients, carried out mainly with the use of topical corticosteroids such as ointments and gels. As an alternative to conventional treatment of psoriasis, this work presents a study on the production and characterization of polymeric membranes containing betamethasone valerate produced by biaxial electrospinning. PVP has high solubility in water, resulting in rapid release of the incorporated drug. ECOVIO® (BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany), composed of PLA and PBAT polymers, has good mechanical properties and forms membranes with controlled drug release, due to its hydrophobic characteristics. The produced membranes were characterized by SEM, FTIR, TGA, DSC and XRD. It was demonstrated that the selected polymers presented adequate conditions of electrospinning for membranes prepared in biaxial mode. Characterization showed a possible compatibility between the drug incorporated in the amorphous state and polymers, which also showed increased thermal stability. An increase in the availability of betamethasone valerate incorporated into the membranes (95%) in relation to the isolated active ingredient (20%) was observed in 24 h. Thus, according to the results obtained, the produced membrane is promising for the controlled release of betamethasone valerate.