Applications of drug-releasing textiles

Phaneuf et al. have developed a novel biomaterial surface that provides both localised infection resistance and haemostatic properties. Functional groups were created with woven Dacron material through exposure to ethylenediamine (C-EDA) and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin was then applied to the C-EDA using the pad/autoclave technique followed by surface immobilisation of the coagulation cascade enzyme thrombin. It was found that the antimicrobial activity of the treated fabric surface persisted for 5 days compared with the untreated fabric. Thrombin surfaces had 2.6-and 105-fold greater surface thrombin activity compared with non-specifically bound thrombin and ciprofloxacin-dyed surfaces, respectively. This study demonstrated that ciprofloxacin and thrombin can be simultaneously incorporated onto a biomaterial surface while maintaining their respective biological activities (Phaneuf et al., 2005). 

Due to the high surface area and relatively simple incorporation processes, textile materials have been widely used for controlled drug delivery in many diverse applications, where medicated prodncts are designed for wound care, transdermal drug delivery, antifungal and antimicrobial barriers, ophthalmic drug carriers, etc. Some of these applications are described below. 

Growth factors are involved in cell division, migration, and differentiation, protein expression, and enzyme prodnction. The wound-healing properties of growth factors 

4 Medical textiles loaded with nutritional supplements 

In addition to the incorporation of vitamins, textile fibers can be used to carry zinc, copper, and other metal ions that are beneficial to the normal fnnctions of the skin. 

The ability of textile materials to carry bioactive ingredients can be used to micropackage cosmetic ingredients on to textiles. Microcapsnles snitable for cosmetotextiles have mean diameters typically ranging from 1 to 10 pm. This compares to a range of 5-30 pm for a single textile fiber, from abont 5 pm for microfibers to abont 30 pm for coarse wool. Microcapsnles can be modified in size, mechanical robustness, and permeability to customize the release profile to fit the intended functionality best. 

---

Often drug-coated fabrics can release a significant amount of drug immediately following their employment and this makes these textiles unsuitable for applications where extended and prolonged dmg release is needed. In these situations it is also difficult to ensure that the coated microcapsules remain attached to the fabric surface. Therefore it is important to develop methods to overcome this problem and several approaches have been adopted to resolve this issue. For example, Ma et al. coated cotton fabrics with a paste formulation comprising dmg microcapsules and adhesives (Ma et al., 2009). This reduced the initial sudden release of the dmg and allowed release of the loaded dmg over a prolonged period of time. Studies have also been... 

Spinning process previously was confined to textile industry for the production of fibers. Nowadays, it is extended to production of thin polymeric fibers. These thin fibers have enormous biomedical applications like tissue engineering, drug release, wound dressing, enzyme immobiUzalion,... 

---