Electrospun curcumin loaded poly(ε-caprolactone)/gum tragacanth nanofibers for biomedical application

• Produced nanofibers from gum tragacanth (GT) beside poly (Ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) are promising vehicles for the efficient and sustained delivery of curcumin.
• The in vitro release profile of curcumin for PCL/GT/Cur-3% showed relatively sustained curcumin release up to a period of 20 days
• Tensile stress and strain increased for PCL/GT/Cur-3% compared with PCL/GT nanofibers.
• PCL/GT nanofibers with 3% curcumin enhanced cell proliferation and cell attachment onto scaffold’s surface.

In this work curcumin (Cur)-loaded poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)/gum tragacanth (GT) scaffold membranes which provided the controlled release of curcumin for over 20 days were fabricated by electrospinning. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were applied to characterize the produced nanofibers. These nanofibers were evaluated for water absorption capacity, in vitro drug release, biodegradation test, cell culture and MTT analysis. The water contact angle measurements indicated that addition of GT and curcumin in composition resulted in increase in the hydrophilicity of the nanofibers. Biodegradation test for the fabricated nanofibers exhibited that PCL/GT, PCL/Cur-3% and PCL/GT/Cur-3% nanofibers preserved their structure after 15 days. The in vitro release profile of curcumin showed 6.86, 14 and 30.09% burst release for PCL/GT/Cur-1%, PCL/GT/Cur-3% and PCL/Cur-3% nanofibers respectively. The effect of curcumin concentration in the nanofibers composition on the cell viability was assessed by the MTS assay. The cytotoxic effect of released curcumin on the fibroblast cells was examined. The PCL/GT/Cur-3% with suitable mechanical properties, excellent biological characteristics, and maintaining their original structure in degradation media may have potential application as a wound dressing patch for healing slow rate wounds.