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Application of electrospun fibers for female reproductive health

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Abstract

Here, we present the current challenges in women’s reproductive health and the current state-of-the-art treatment and prevention options for STI prevention, contraception, and treatment of infections. We discuss how the versatile platform of electrospun fibers can be applied to each challenge, and postulate at how these technologies could be improved. The void of approved electrospun fiber-based products yields the potential to apply this useful technology to a number of medical applications, many of which are relevant to women’s reproductive health. Given the ability to tune drug delivery characteristics and three-dimensional geometry, there are many opportunities to pursue new product designs and routes of administration for electrospun fibers. For each application, we provide an overview of the versatility of electrospun fibers as a novel dosage form and summarize their advantages in clinical applications. We also provide a perspective on why electrospun fibers are well-suited for a variety of applications within women’s reproductive health and identify areas that could greatly benefit from innovations with electrospun fiber-based approaches.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by funding from the NIH/NIAID (AI112002) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1067729, OPP1110945).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Anna K. Blakney, Yonghou Jiang & Kim A. Woodrow

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  1. Anna K. Blakney
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  2. Yonghou Jiang
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  3. Kim A. Woodrow
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Correspondence to Kim A. Woodrow.

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Blakney, A.K., Jiang, Y. & Woodrow, K.A. Application of electrospun fibers for female reproductive health. Drug Deliv. and Transl. Res. 7, 796–804 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-017-0386-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13346-017-0386-3

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