Elongation of Fibers from Highly Viscous Dextran Solutions Enables Fabrication of Rapidly Dissolving Drug Carrying Fabrics

A simple method is presented for forming thread-like fibers from highly viscous dextran solutions. Based on the cohesive and adhesive forces between a dextran solution and the substrate to which it is applied, multiple fibers of approximately 10 mu m in diameter can be elongated simultaneously. These fibers can be woven into multiple layers to produce fabrics of varying fiber orientations and mechanical properties. Various bioactive agents can be incorporated into the dextran solution prior to fiber formation, including hemostatic and antibiotic agents. Fabrics containing thrombin are capable of coagulating human platelet poor plasma in vitro. Fabrics containing antibiotics are capable of suppressing bacterial growth in a disk diffusion assay. These data suggest that this new material composed entirely of dextran has promise as a drug delivery component in wound dressings.