Cholesterol included self-assembled electrospun proliposomes as a feasible approach for drug delivery

Liposomes are the most well established systems for drug delivery due to their biocompatibility, extended circulation time and availability of surface modification. Besides, there are limitations mainly related with their inadequate stability. Electrospinning is a versatile method which incorporates many drugs into polymeric nanofibers. Self-assembly liposomes obtained from nanofibers could be an advantageous approach that can overcome the stability problems of liposomes. In this study, proliposome nanofibers of soy phosphatidylcholine(PC) and PC/Cholesterol(Chol) were developed in dry state using polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP), by a single step method, electrospinning. Hydrocortisone(HC) was used as a hydrophobic model drug. All formulations were successfully electrospun according to SEM images. DSC, FT-IR and XRD studies showed that the drug was encapsulated and transformed into an amorphous form. The hydration of PC/Chol containing nanofibers provides to form liposomes around 150 nm with −30mV zeta potential and 0.23 polydispersity index. Self-assembled liposomes obtained by hydration of nanofibers and PDI values were found to be very low without extrusion or sonication step. No vesicular structure was observed for PVP nanofibers without PC. The release studies showed the addition of Chol to nanofiber structure, enhanced HC release within 48 h. Additionally, three-months stability data showed that Chol improves in vitro stability of liposomes.