Nanofiber membranes of cellulose acetate (CA) were produced with four mixtures of solvents, that is, acetic acid/water, acetone/water, dimethylacetamide (DMAc)/acetone, and DMAc/acetone/water, with the incorporation of the drug gentamicin sulfate at two concentrations. We evaluated the influence of the drug concentration in the electrospinning process. The best membrane produced in this stage was the membrane electrospun with the DMAc/acetone/water solvent mixture, whose process was shown to be viable and did not alter the membrane diameter or aspect with the variation of the drug concentration. Membranes prepared in this way and loaded with 50% of the drug were used for the studies of the release kinetics. Comparisons between the release profiles of the same membranes coated with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, Eudragit L100, and electrospun CA nanofibers were carried out. The best results on the drug-release profile were obtained with the membrane coated with nanofibers of CA, which caused a decrease of 9 h in the burst effect. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.