Electrospun Nanofibers for Fast Dissolution of Naproxen Prepared Using a Coaxial Process with Ethanol as a Shell Fluid

The present paper reports a new type of medicated nanofibers loaded with naproxen, which were fabricated using a coaxial electrospinning process with only ethanol as the shell fluid. Field emission scanning electron microscopic observations clearly showed that high quality linear nanofibers with smooth surface and an average diameter of 270 ± 60 nm were generated under a shell-to-core fluid rate ratio of 0.2. X-ray diffraction patterns suggested that the drug was distributed homogeneously in the polymer matrix. In vitro dissolution tests demonstrated that the nanofibers could release the entire contained drug in one minute, whereas the commercial naproxen dispersible tablets took over 40 minutes to exhaust all the drug. The coaxial electrospinning process can provide new way for developing novel drug delivery systems.