Electrospinning Preparation of Timosaponin B-II-Loaded PLLA Nanofibers and Their Antitumor Recurrence Activities In Vivo

Abstract EN

Poly(L-lactic)-acid (PLLA) as a drug carrier and a water-soluble drug timosaponin B-II (TB-II) as a model drug were selected to prepare drug-loaded nanofibers by electrospinning.

The average diameters of pure PLLA nanofibers and TB-II-loaded nanofibers were 212.5 ± 68.5, 219.7 ± 57.8, 232.8 ± 66.9, and 232.9 ± 97.7 nm, respectively.

DSC and XRD results demonstrated that TB-II was well incorporated into the nanofibers in an amorphous state.

FI-TR spectroscopy indicated that TB-II had good compatibility with PLLA.

In vitro release studies showed that TB-II was rapidly released from the nanofibers within 6 h, followed by a gradual release for long time.

In vivo biosafety test revealed no noticeable toxicity of these TB-II nanofibers.

The TB-II released from the nanofibers had obvious inhibition effect against human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC 7721 cells both in vivo and in vitro.

It was confirmed that the TB-II-loaded nanofibers were a sustained delivery system which could effectively inhibit the tumor growth and recurrence after surgery.