Nanofiber materials are commonly used as delivery vehicles for dermatological drugs due to their high surface-area-to-volume ratio, porosity, flexibility, and reproducibility. In this study air-jet spinning was used as a novel and economic method to fabricate corn zein nanofiber meshes with model drugs of varying solubility, molecular weight and charge. The release profiles of these drugs were compared to their release from corn zein films to elucidate the effect of geometry and structure on drug delivery kinetics. In film samples, over 50% of drug was released after only 2 h. However, fiber samples exhibited more sustained release, releasing less than 50% after one day. FTIR, SEM, and DSC were performed on nanofibers and films before and after release of the drugs. Structural analysis revealed that the incorporation of model drugs into the fibers would transform the zein proteins from a random coil network to a more alpha helical structure. Upon release, the protein fiber reverted to its original random coil network. In addition, thermal analysis indicated that fibers can protect the drug molecules in high temperature above 160 °C, while drugs within films will degrade below 130 °C. These findings can likely be attributed to the mechanical infiltration of the drug molecules into the ordered structure of the zein fibers during their solution fabrication. The slow release from fiber samples can be attributed to this biophysical interaction, illustrating that release is dictated by more than diffusion in protein-based carriers. The controlled release of a wide variety of drugs from the air-jet spun corn zein nanofiber meshes demonstrates their success as drug delivery vehicles that can potentially be incorporated into different biological materials in the future.

纳米纤维材料由于其高的表面积/体积比，孔隙率，柔韧性和可再现性而通常被用作皮肤病学药物的递送载体。在这项研究中，喷气纺丝被用作一种新颖且经济的方法，以溶解度，分子量和电荷不同的模型药物来制造玉米玉米蛋白纳米纤维网。将这些药物的释放曲线与从玉米玉米醇溶蛋白薄膜中的释放进行了比较，以阐明几何形状和结构对药物传递动力学的影响。在胶片样品中，仅2小时后释放了超过50％的药物。但是，纤维样品表现出更持久的释放，一天后释放少于50％。在药物释放之前和之后，对纳米纤维和薄膜进行FTIR，SEM和DSC。结构分析表明，将模型药物掺入到纤维中将使玉米醇溶蛋白从随机线圈网络转变为更多的α螺旋结构。释放后，蛋白质纤维恢复为原始的随机线圈网络。此外，热分析表明，纤维可以在160°C以上的高温下保护药物分子，而薄膜内的药物在130°C以下会降解。这些发现可能归因于药物分子在溶液制造过程中机械渗透到玉米醇溶蛋白纤维的有序结构中。纤维样品的缓慢释放可归因于这种生物物理相互作用，这说明释放不仅是基于蛋白质的载体中的扩散所决定。