Process control and scale-up of modified bacterial cellulose production for tailor-made anti-inflammatory drug delivery systems

Bacterial cellulose (BC) has proven its high potential as active wound dressing and drug delivery system in many scientific studies, but the transferability of the methods to efficient manufacturing still needs to be demonstrated. This study presents a technically feasible, straightforward and efficient approach to modify BC according to specific medical requirements, to scale-up the cultivation and to load the active pharmaceutical ingredient of interest. By means of in situ-modification of the network structure using water-soluble poly(ethylene glycol) 400 and 4000 on pilot-scale, up to 41.5 +/- 3.0 % higher transparency of the dressing, 40.6 +/- 3.8 % increased loading capacity and 9% increased total release of the anti-inflammatory model drug diclofenac sodium could be obtained. Spray loading was investigated as material efficient alternative to absorption loading allowing a significant reduction in loading time.