Development and Study of Nanoemulsions and Nanoemulsion-Based Hydrogels for the Encapsulation of Lipophilic Compounds

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 10; no. 12; p. 2464
• Main Authors: Demisli, Sotiria, Mitsou, Evgenia, Pletsa, Vasiliki, Xenakis, Aristotelis, Papadimitriou, Vassiliki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 09-12-2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Acids; Bioactive compounds; Biocompatibility; Brain research; Cell culture; Cell proliferation; cell viability; Curcumin; Cytotoxicity; Diffusion cells; Electron paramagnetic resonance; Electron spin resonance; Emulsions; Encapsulation; Epithelial cells; Hydrogels; in vitro release; Laboratories; Light scattering; Lipophilic; Lipophilicity; Nanoemulsions; Pharmaceutical industry; Photon correlation spectroscopy; Polymers; Resonance scattering; Spectroscopy; Surfactants; Toxicity; Viscometry; Viscosity; Vitamin D3; Greece; United States > US; Germany; cell viability; in vitro release; EPR; vitamin D3; nanoemulsions; DLS; hydrogels; curcumin
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano10122464

Biocompatible nanoemulsions and nanoemulsion-based hydrogels were formulated for the encapsulation and delivery of vitamin D
and curcumin. The aforementioned systems were structurally studied applying dynamic light scattering (DLS), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and viscometry. In vitro studies were conducted using Franz diffusion cells to investigate the release of the bioactive compounds from the nanocarriers. The cytotoxicity of the nanoemulsions was investigated using the thiazolyl blue tetrazolium bromide (MTT) cell proliferation assay and RPMI 2650 nasal epithelial cells as in vitro model. DLS measurements showed that vitamin D
and curcumin addition in the dispersed phase of the nanoemulsions caused an increase in the size of the oil droplets from 78.6 ± 0.2 nm to 83.6 ± 0.3 nm and from 78.6 ± 0.2 nm to 165.6 ± 1.0 nm, respectively. Loaded nanoemulsions, in both cases, were stable for 60 days of storage at 25 °C. EPR spectroscopy revealed participation of vitamin D
and curcumin in the surfactants monolayer. In vitro release rates of both lipophilic compounds from the nanoemulsions were comparable to the corresponding ones from the nanoemulsion-based hydrogels. The developed o/w nanoemulsions did not exhibit cytotoxic effect up to the concentration threshold of 1 mg/mL in the cell culture medium.