Fast-Dissolving Protein Nanofibrous Membrane for Dual Drug Oral Delivery

Abstract

Oral instant membranes can be quickly wetted by the patient’s saliva and dissolved/disintegrated in the mouth without the need for drinking water and chewing, exhibiting great promise for patients from children to the elderly who have difficulties with swallowing. However, the reported instant oral membranes can load and release only one single drug, which greatly hinders their potential applications. Herein, we employ a sequential electrospinning approach to fabricate dual drug-loaded bilayered gelatin oral instant membranes. The results indicate that a gelatin membrane with a uniform nanofibrous structure can be successfully prepared, and that both the hydrophilic model drug and hydrophobic model drug can be embedded into the gelatin nanofibers. X-ray diffraction results verify that the two drugs are well distributed in the nanofibrous matrix in an amorphous state. Owing to the excellent water solubility and large surface area of gelatin nanofibers, the hydrophilic model drug can be quickly dissolved in 101 s, while the hydrophobic model drug can be completely released in 100 s. The bilayered gelatin nanofibrous membrane shows promise for simultaneous loading and release of two drugs for fast-dissolving delivery applications.