Fabrication of Electrospun Poly L-lactide and Curcumin Loaded Poly L-lactide Nanofibers for Drug Delivery

The present work reports the preparation of Poly L-Lactide (PLLA) and Curcumin loaded Poly L-Lactide (C-PLLA) nanofibers by electrospinning. A series of PLLA solution (12 wt %) and C-PLLA (12 wt % PLLA) solution containing Curcumin (0.5 wt % and 1 wt %)) were electrospun into nanofibers. SEM images showed the average diameter of PLLA and C-PLLA in the range of 50-200 nm. The TEM images showed the dispersion of Curcumin on C-PLLA nanofibers. The XRD pattern indicated decreases of crystallinity with the increase in the amount of Curcumin. The characteristic peak of Curcumin was confirmed by FTIR. The TGA results showed the degradation of PLLA and C-PLLA close to 300 degrees C. The percentage porosity and the contact angle of PLLA were found to be 90.2 % and 115 +/- 3 degrees with deionised water, respectively. The water uptake percentage was found to be 17.6 %. The percentage cumulative release of Curcumin at the end of 8th day for 0.5 and 1.0 wt % formulations was 81.4 +/- 1.3 and 86.7 +/- 1.7 % respectively. The in-vitro biological cytotoxicity studies were performed using C6 glioma cells and NIH 3T3 fibroblast by MU assay and SEM analysis.