NANOSTRUCTURED PLATFORMS WITH CONTROLLED DRUG DELIVERY FOR PERIODONTAL TISSUE REGENERATION

Electrospinning/electrospraying technique is currently represent a challenging route to produce polymer micro and nanoscaffolds with fibers and/or particles aspect. The design of integrated platforms based on the synergistic use of electrospinning and electrospraying technique offer the chance to design powerful scaffolds for tissue engineering and drug delivery applications. PCL and Chitosan are biocompatible materials to consider as ࢠidealࢠcandidates for cell material interation. In particular, PCL fibers may be electrospun to form submicrometric fibrous networks able to mimic the structural organization of the collagen fibres in the native ECM. Process parameters, i.e, voltage, flow rate, may be finely controlled optimize fiber size, distribution and beads occurrence. Meanwhile, chitosan particles processed by electrospraying can be successfully used as carrier of antibiotics, i.e, tetracycline for the use in periodontal surgery as confirmed by the fast release completed after 24 hours. Finally, the biological response of integrated systems was ultimately explored to validate the use of PCL/CHI scaffolds as periodontal patches.