In Vitro Hyperthermia Evaluation of Electrospun Polymer Composite Fibers Loaded with Reduced Graphene Oxide

• Main Authors: Ignacio A. Zárate, Héctor Aguilar-Bolados, Mehrdad Yazdani-Pedram, Guadalupe del C. Pizarro, Andrónico Neira-Carrillo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: electrospun fibers; hyperthermia; electrospinning; polymers; near-infrared radiation (NIR); thermally reduced graphene oxide (TrGO)
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/11/2663

Electrospun meshes (EM) composed of natural and synthetic polymers with randomly or aligned fibers orientations containing 0.5% or 1% of thermally reduced graphene oxide (TrGO) were prepared by electrospinning (ES), and their hyperthermia properties were evaluated. EM loaded with and without TrGO were irradiated using near infrared radiation (NIR) at 808 nm by varying the distance and electric potential recorded at 30 s. Morphological, spectroscopic, and thermal aspects of EM samples were analyzed by using SEM-EDS, Raman and X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and NIR radiation response. We found that the composite EM made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), natural rubber (NR), and arabic gum (AG) containing TrGO showed improved hyperthermia properties compared to EM without TrGO, reaching an average temperature range of 42–52 °C. We also found that the distribution of TrGO in the EM depends on the orientation of the fibers. These results allow infering that EM loaded with TrGO as a NIR-active thermal inducer could be an excellent candidate for hyperthermia applications in photothermal therapy.