Electrospun hyaluronan-based nanofibers with mangiferin: preparation, morphology, and drug release kinetics

Introduction
Mangiferin is a non-toxic bioactive substance with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, and immunomodulatory activities. However, it has poor water solubility, and the use of mangiferin is hindered. Biopolymer matrixes, e.g. in nanofibrous form, could be applied to increase the bioavailability of loaded mangiferin. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is one of the attractive biopolymers for such nanofibers. In addition to biocompatibility and biodegradability of HA, the presence of its specific cell receptors (mainly, CD44) allows providing the targeted delivery action.

Methods
High molecular HA was used as a polymer matrix for mangiferin-loaded nanofibers. Electrospinning parameters: 28 kV, flow rate 2 mL/h, distance between electrodes 140 mm. Methods and software: SEM (morphological analysis), UV–VIS spectrophotometry (mangiferin release into PBS with pH = 7.4), ImageJ (statistical analysis), OriginPro (visualization and kinetic model definition).

Results and discussion
The minimum diameter, average diameter, and range of blank HA nanofibers are equal to 107 nm, 252 nm, and 291 nm, respectively. With mangiferin concentration increase, the above-mentioned characteristics increase up to 152 nm, 291 nm, and 398 nm, respectively. Thus, the slight diameter distribution extension is detected. Mangiferin release has an anomalous (non-Fickian) transport mechanism. It is expected that due to the natural origin and non-toxicity of the initial components, the obtained nanofibers could be characterized as nonhazardous and biocompatible material, and after additional investigations, including in vitro and in vivo analysis, they could be recommended for burn and wound regenerative coatings and transdermal delivery systems. Cross-linking is recommended for tuning the controlled release rate.

Conclusions
Thus, the obtained results can be used in the further development and improvement of delivery systems with mangiferin. The authors are planning to continue this research and to analyze the toxicity, efficacy, and mechanism of targeting action.

This research was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, project number 24-23-00269. Link to information about project: https://rscf.ru/en/project/24-23-00269/