Pharmacological modulation of responses to injury is complicated by the need to deliver multiple drugs with spatiotemporal resolution. Here, a novel controlled delivery system containing three separate compartments with each releasing its contents over different timescales is fabricated. Core-shell electrospun fibers create two of the compartments in the system, while electrosprayed spheres create the third. Utility is demonstrated by targeting the foreign body response to implants because it is a dynamic process resulting in implant failure. Sequential delivery of a drug targeting nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and an antifibrotic is characterized in in vitro experiments. Specifically, macrophage fusion and p65 nuclear translocation in the presence of releasate or with macrophages cultured on the surfaces of the constructs are evaluated. In addition, releasate from pirfenidone scaffolds is shown to reduce transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β)-induced pSMAD3 nuclear localization in fibroblasts. In vivo, drug eluting constructs successfully mitigate macrophage fusion at one week and fibrotic encapsulation in a dose-dependent manner at four weeks, demonstrating effective release of both drugs over different timescales. Future studies can employ this system to improve and prolong implant lifetimes, or load it with other drugs to modulate other dynamic processes.
Keywords: drug delivery; electrospinning; fibrosis; foreign body response; macrophages.
© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.