In this study, first polyvinyl alcohol / graphene oxide nanofibers containing tetracycline were prepared and then the release of the drug from the polymer matrix with different amounts of graphene oxide was eva‎luated. To carry out this task, solutions of polyvinyl alcohol (105 w/v), containing 0, 1, 2 and 3% graphene oxide (w/v) and 3% (w/w relative to weight of polymer) tetracycline in water solvent were prepared. After investigating the effect of the amount of graphene oxide on the viscosity, electrical conductivity and surface tension of the electrospinning solutions, nanofibrous webs were produced. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Digimizer software were used to investigate the morphology of the electrospun nanofibers. The diameter of the nanofibers containing tetracycline and 0, 1, 2 and 3% graphene was in the range of 209-242 nm, respectively. The average diameter of the electrospun nanofibers increased with increasing viscosity and surface tension as expected, but did not decrease with higher electrical conductivity, highlighting the predominance of viscosity and surface tension over electrical conductivity in this case. Using FTIR, the formation of a possible reaction or interaction between poly vinyl alcohol, graphene oxide and tetracycline was investigated. According to the FTIR spectra, no reaction was performed between the polymer / drug, polymer / graphene oxide and drug / graphene oxide. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses showed that graphene oxide and tetracycline had no considerable effect on the crystallinity of polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers and tetracycline was not able to recrystallize after fiber formation. Drug release from web of nanofibers containing tetracycline with different amounts of graphene oxide was investigated in phosphate buffer medium pH = 7.4. It was shown that, increasing the amount of the incorporated graphene oxide, decreased the rate and the total amount of tetracycline release. About 90% of the release occurred in a matter of about two hours. The drug release from polyvinyl alcohol / graphene oxide / tetracycline nanofibrous web followed Fickian mechanism and Higuchi kinetics. Basically it is concluded that polyvinyl alcohol / graphene oxide/ tetracycline nanofbrous webs have the ability to release tetracycline in a controlled manner and can be used as a controlled tetracycline release system in wound dressing.

حسين توانايي

مهدي بازرگاني پور

فرزانه علي حسيني، كميل نصوري