UC San Diego

Nanofibers have shown promising results as an excellent drug delivery platform and a wound healing medium due to their fibrous morphology and high porosity. They are also a highly versatile nanosystem with customizable material composition and surface structure. Recent emergence of the cell membrane cloaking technology and its detoxification capability enabled a new way of nanofiber functionalization. The endotoxin and cytokine neutralizing properties of mouse J774 macrophage cell membrane coated nanoparticles (MϕNP) have previously been reported, but the nature of free nanoparticles prohibits local cytokine neutralization. Herein, we introduce a triple-action nanofiber-nanoparticle hybrid system that functions both as a drug delivery and a MϕNP retention platform. This project explored attaching MϕNP onto dual-drug loaded polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofiber surface. Our final nanoparticle-nanofiber hybrid system attenuates inflammation in three directions: curcumin reduces inflammation through modulating cytokine transcription; ciprofloxacin provides powerful anti-microbial effects; the attached MϕNPs show improved cytokine neutralization. The hybrid system serves as a new way to integrate traditional drug-delivery nano-platforms with the innovative biomimetic membrane toxin-neutralizing nanoparticles.