Amoxicillin Loaded Hollow Microparticles in the Treatment of Osteomyelitis Disease Using Single-Nozzle Electrospinning Esra Altun 1,2 & Mehmet Onur Aydogdu 1,2 & Fatma Koc 3 & Ozlem Kutlu 4 & Devrim Gozuacik 5 & Sevil Yucel 6 & Oguzhan Gunduz 2,7 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract In this study, hollow microparticles were produced with polymethylsilsesquioxane/chitosan/bovine hydroxyapatite/hexagonal boron nitride (PCBB) polyblend using single-nozzle electrospinning method. Also, hollow microparticles are loaded with amoxicillin (AMX) and their drug delivery capabilities have been studied according to a treatment of osteomyelitis disease. The morphology, chemical groups, particle size, antimicrobial activity, and AMX drug release were systematically studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), optical microscopy, Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), hollow micro- particle size measurements, antimicrobial activity test, and UV spectroscopy. In vitro biocompatibility was analyzed with human bone osteosarcoma (U2OS) cell line. This present work can help in the design of a drug delivery platform for antimicrobial effect and bone repair at the same time for osteomyelitis disease treatment. Keywords Single-nozzle electrospinning . Hollow microparticles . Osteomyelitis . Drug delivery . Bone tissue engineering 1 Introduction Hollow microparticles have gained great interests for micro- encapsulation and have been used in both drug delivery and biomedical applications for decades [1]. They have become popular because of their characteristic features, for instance, having a high surface to volume ratio and low density [2]. The size of pores in the hollow side of microparticles showing a huge difference in the encapsulation and delivery of functional materials [3] and the hollow particles with large passage holes above 10 nm are highly desired for applications containing biomacromolecules [4]. Many of the current techniques were used to produce microparticles, such as organic templates, inorganic templates, soft templates, and spray methods [5–10] aiming the different therapeutic solutions like drug delivery, bioencapsulation, catalyst, photonics, and addition- ally, in food and beverages [11–14]. One of the production methods of producing the hollow microparticles is electrohydrodynamic spraying method. The method uses elec- trical force to spraying towards gravity to into glass vials con- taining simulated body fluid (SBF) and ethanol [3] or onto a microscope slide containing distilled water [4]. Despite that, electrohydrodynamic spinning or electrospinning is a method that using electrical force to spraying towards or against grav- ity onto a collector. Electrospinning method has been widely used to produce ultrafine fibers with diameters ranging from tens of nanometers to several microns [15]. Its characteristic features made the electrospinning one of the most prominent modern methods of fiber and scaffold production for drug delivery [ 16 ] studies. In this study, single-nozzle electrospinning method (against gravity) is presented as a * Oguzhan Gunduz oguzhan@marmara.edu.tr 1 Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Institute of Pure and Applied Sciences, Marmara University, Goztepe Campus, 34722 Istanbul, Turkey 2 Advanced Nanomaterials Research Laboratory, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Marmara University, Goztepe Campus, 34722 Istanbul, Turkey 3 Department of Medical Microbiology, Medipol University, Beykoz, 34810 Istanbul, Turkey 4 Nanotechnology Research and Application Center, EFSUN-Center of Excellence for Functional Surfaces and Interfaces for Nano Diagnostic, Sabanci University, Tuzla, 34956 Istanbul, Turkey 5 Molecular Biology Genetics and Bioengineering Program, Sabanci University, Tuzla, 34956 Istanbul, Turkey 6 Department of Bioengineering, Yildiz Technical University, Esenler, 34220 İstanbul, Turkey 7 Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Marmara University, Goztepe Campus, 34722 Istanbul, Turkey BioNanoScience https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-018-0539-y