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We report the development of a polylactic acid/polycaprolactone (PLA/PCL) nanofiber dressing with rifampicin (RIF) incorporated, designed as a drug delivery system for treating and counteracting problems caused by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The dressing was obtained by electrospinning and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The RIF content in the dressing was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Its release was evaluated in a physiological liquid medium and in an in vivo study using rats. The nanofibers showed a diameter close to 200 nm. There were not found significant alterations in the FTIR spectra or in the thermal properties of the dressing components after the electrospinning process. The HPLC evaluation suggested that the electrospinning process did not generate chemical changes to RIF, which was incorporated into the dressing with an efficiency >98%. RIF was efficiently released from the dressing into the physiological liquid medium and efficiently released and transdermally absorbed in vivo, being identified in the urine of the animals from 6 to 48 h after starting its administration. Results suggest that the dressing can be used as a dosage pharmaceutical form for the transdermal administration of RIF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poly-ε-caprolactone (PCL) has been the subject of extensive research in the past few years. It is widely explored in drug delivery, where the development of nanomedicines for cancer, one of the major public health concerns nowadays, has not been the exception. As a biocompatible, biodegradable and bioresorbable polymer, PCL has also found plenty of uses in the form of microparticles and scaffolds; so is the main objective of the present review to emphasize its potential and present its properties along with applications in the pharmaceutical and biomedical area with a special focus on nanomedicine in cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods for nanoparticles preparation often employ organic solvents in order to solubilize the non-polar constituents of the final nanostructures. In the research process, nanoparticles are assayed as aqueous suspensions in several cases, so that an excessive residual concentration of the organic solvent needs to be avoided since may lead to undesired secondary effects during biological tests. Despite the importance, residual solvent concentration is rarely determined, making necessary the development of quantification methods suitable for this purpose. Acetone is frequently used in drug delivery systems preparation, being capable to exert significant toxicities both, in vitro and in vivo. Thus, a simple and inexpensive UV–Vis spectrophotometric method is proposed to directly determine acetone from nanoparticles suspensions employing its reaction with vanillin. Central composite designs were employed to correct and optimize the quantification method, which was then validated according to international guidelines. The optimized method resulted accurate, precise, and linear in the range of 10–50 µg/mL, with an R2 of 0.998 and limits of detection and quantification of 2.6 and 7.8 µg/mL, respectively. The effect of several surfactants employed during nanoparticles preparation was not detrimental to the method. The proposed procedure can be successfully applied to directly quantify acetone from nanoparticles suspensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]