Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jnoncrysol Comparing the drug loading and release of silica aerogel and PVA nano fibers Mehran Afrashi a , Dariush Semnani a, ⁎ , Zahra Talebi a , Parvin Dehghan b , Mehrnoosh Maherolnaghsh b a Department of Textile Engineering, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan 84156-83111, Iran b Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Silica aerogel PVA nano fibers Drug delivery system Fluconazole Candida albicans ABSTRACT Nowadays, various materials have been used as drug delivery systems (DDSs). In this study, Poly (vinyl alcohol) nanofibers and films were used as an organic drug carriers and silica-aerogel as a mineral drug carrier. The physicochemical properties and also drug release of prepared samples were investigated from appropriate tests. The results of low-temperature N 2 adsorption/desorption analysis showed the drug molecules have been trapped in the aerogel pores. The results of drug release showed the drug loaded samples, especially the silica aerogel, have a faster release, due to a high surface area and high porosity rather than the crystalline form of the drug. About 80% of the fluconazole loaded on silica aerogel was released in 60 min, while this amount of the pure fluconazole was released in 225 min. As well as, in vitro test was performed by disc diffusion method that the drug loaded silica aerogel and Poly (vinyl alcohol) film showed a significant effect on the destruction of the fungal. 1. Introduction Research in drug-delivery field in biomaterial science was centered toward the development and design of effective materials for drug loading and its delivery specifically to the targeted location at a con- trolled release rate. Designing a controlled drug-delivery system (DDS) requires the several key factors such as the retention of a drug property, route of administration, nature of the delivery carrier, mechanism of drug delivery, ability to target release, and biocompatibility [1,2]. In the conventional drug usage, it was difficult to maintain drug levels within the appropriate concentration and avoid toxicity due to over- dose. With controlled release systems, an acceptable dose can sustain drug levels within the desired therapeutic range for long periods of time [3]. A variety of nano-carrierskhy, such as silica nanoparticles [4,5], polymeric carriers [6], and other materials were actively developed for drug delivery. Always, the efficient and safe drug delivery vehicles were the study aim for drug therapy. However, there are some of the limiter items such as poor stability [7], limited drug loading [8] and the cy- totoxicity remained for practical DDS [9]. Nowadays, polymeric material including hydrogels and biopolymers have been found to be successful for DDSs. In such polymer-based carriers, the use of cross-linking functional groups is necessary to increase efficiency of them [10]. The drug-loaded film is one of the applications of them in the biological and pharmaceutical technology. Drugs and other activating agents could be dissolved or dispersed within these films [11]. Hydrogels are polymeric materials in film shape that do not dissolve in water at physiological temperature and pH but are able to swell considerably in an aqueous medium. They are widely used as controlled release carriers of drugs due to their good compat- ibility and swelling condition and solute permeability [12]. Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a water-soluble polymer. It is an ap- propriate biomedical material in the pharmaceutical industry because it has good characteristics of biodegradability and biocompatibility [13]. Also, it has good chemical and thermal stability [14]. PVA carriers for DDS were successfully prepared in both shapes of nanofibres mats by the electrospinning process [15] and film shape [16]. Nano vehicles based on PVA were approved by the (FDA) [17]. Furthermore, this polymer has excellent film-forming, emulsifying [18]. Recently, the electrospinning process very has been used due to its ability to produce nanofibrous mats [19–21]. The principle of this process is to use electrostatic force [22]. A number of processing parameters such as applied voltage, the distance between source and collector, injection rate and environment temperature and humidity must be optimized in order to generate fibers as opposed to droplets https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2018.09.045 Received 5 July 2018; Received in revised form 24 September 2018; Accepted 27 September 2018 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: d_semnani@cc.iut.ac.ir (D. Semnani). Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx 0022-3093/ © 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V. Please cite this article as: Afrashi, M., Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2018.09.045