• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2005

Ursolic acid (UA), a bioactive triterpene acid, has been known to increase collagen content in human skin in addition to other actions such as anti-inflammatory, skin-tumor prevention and anti-invasion. However, it is poorly soluble in water. Therefore, we firstly prepared microemulsion system with benzyl alcohol, ethanol and Cremophor EL, RH 40 and Brij 35 as surfactant in order to increase solubility of UA and then prepared microemulsion was dispersed in o/w cream base for the topical delivery of UA in an effort to improve anti-wrinkle effect. The pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were developed and various microemulsion formulations were prepared using benzyl alcohol as an oil, Cremophor EL, RH 40 and Brij 35 as a surfactant. The droplet size of microemulsions was characterized by dynamic light scattering. The accumulation of VA in the skin from topical cream was evaluated in vitro using hairless mouse skins. The mean droplet size was $26.8{\pm}6.6$ nm for microemulsions II with Cremophor EL. All UA creams showed pseudoplastic flow and hysterisis loop in their rheogram, depending on the type of materials added in topical creams. The in vitro accumulation data demonstrated the UA topical cream prepared with the combination of Poloxamer 407 and Xanthan gum as a copolymer showed higher accumulation percentage than those prepared with either Poloxamer 407 or Xanthan gum. These results suggest that UA topical cream using microemulsion systems may be promising for the topical delivery of UA.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2000.04a
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• pp.205.1-205.1
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• 2000

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.11
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• pp.1598-1609
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• 2013

Organochlorine pesticide residues continue to remain as a major environmental threat worldwide. Lindane is an organochlorine pesticide widely used as an acaricide in medicine and agriculture. In the present study, a new lindane-degrading yeast strain, Pseudozyma VITJzN01, was identified as a copious producer of glycolipid biosurfactant. The glycolipid structure and type were elucidated by FTIR, NMR spectroscopy, and GC-MS analysis. The surface activity and stability of the glycolipid was analyzed. The glycolipids, characterized as mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs), exhibited excellent surface active properties and the surface tension of water was reduced to 29 mN/m. The glycolipid was stable over a wide range of pH, temperature, and salinity, showing a very low CMC of 25 mg/l. Bio-microemulsion of olive oil-in-water (O/W) was prepared using the purified biosurfactant without addition of any synthetic cosurfactants, for lindane solubilization and enhanced degradation assay in liquid and soil slurry. The O/W bio-microemulsions enhanced the solubility of lindane up to 40-folds. Degradation of lindane (700 mg/l) by VITJzN01 in liquid medium amended with bio-microemulsions was found to be enhanced by 36% in 2 days, compared with degradation in 12 days in the absence of bio-microemulsions. Lindane-spiked soil slurry incubated with bio-microemulsions also showed 20-40% enhanced degradation compared with the treatment with glycolipids or yeast alone. This is the first report on lindane degradation by Pseudozyma sp., and application of bio-microemulsions for enhanced lindane degradation. MEL-stabilized bio-microemulsions can serve as a potential tool for enhanced remediation of diverse lindane-contaminated environments.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2012

The influence of different dilution procedures on the properties of oil-in-water (O/W) nano-emulsions obtained by dilution of oil-in-ethanol (O/E) microemulsions with water has been studied. The system water/ethanol/nonionic surfactant/silicone oil with ethanol was chosen as model system. The dilution procedures consisted of adding water (or microemulsion) stepwise. By mixing O/E microemulsions into water, nano-emulsions with droplet diameters of 30 nm were obtained. In contrast, by mixing water into O/E microemulsion, emulsions with diameter of 400 nm were obtained The dilution methods were shown to be a key factor determining the properties of the emulsions. There were no change in diameters of nanoemulsion droplets against time, however sizes of droplets in the emulsion with larger droplets were increased with time and the mechanism of unstability was thought to be Ostwald ripening.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.677-683
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• 2005

In this work, the effect of additives such as solvent, sodium dodecyl sulfate and NaCl on microemulsion phase behavior and flux removal efficiency in systems containing commercial alkyl ethoxylates nonionic surfactant was investigated. The addition of a n-hydrocarbon as a solvent produced on O/W (Oil/Water) microemulsion phase over a wider range of temperature and cosurfactant to surfactant ratios. Especially, the addition of n-hexadecane to the surfactant system, which was the most hydrophobic solvent among the solvents used in this study, produced a microemulsion phase over a wide range of temperatures and promoted formation of a microemulsion phase at lower temperatures. The candidate for cleaner samples, prepared from phase behavior experiments, showed excellent removal efficiency for abietic acid at $40^{\circ}C$. These data suggested the potential applicability of hydrocarbons to actual cleaner formulations.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 1999

ABSTRACT-A self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS) was developed to enhance the solubility and dissolution rate of poorly water soluble drug, biphenyl dimethyl dicarboxylate, DDB. The system was optimized by evaluating the solubility of DDB and the microemulsion existence range after the preparation of microemulsions with varying compositions of triacetin and surfactant-cosurfactant mixtures (Labrasol as surfactant (S) and the combination of Transcutol, Cremophor RH 40 and Plurol oleique as cosurfactant (CoS)). SMEDDS in this study markedly improved the solubility of DDB in water up to 10 mg/ml and the size of the o/w microemulsion droplets measured by dynamic light scattering showed a narrow monodisperse size distribution with an average diameter less than 50 nm. The microemulsion existing range is increased proportional to the ratio of S/CoS, however, it decreased remarkably as the oil content was more than 20%. In vitro dissolution study of SMEDDS showed a significantly increased dissolution rate of DDB in water (> 12 fold over DDB powder), and SMEDDS also had significantly greater permeability of DDB in Caco-2 cell compared to powders.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1097-1102
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• 2005

An O/W microemulsion system was developed to enhance the skin permeability of ace-clofenac. Of the oils studied, Labrafil? M 1944 CS was chosen as the oil phase: of the microemulson, as it showed a good solubilizing capacity. Pseudo-ternary phase diagrams were constructed to obtain the concentration range of oil, surfactant, Cremophor ELP, and co-surfactant, ethanol, for micoemulsion formation. Eight different formulations with various values of oil of $6-30\%$, water of $0-80\%$, and the mixture of surfactant and co-surfactant (at the ratio of 2) of $14-70\%$. The in vitro transdermal permeability of aceclofenac from the microemulsions was evaluated using Franz diffusion cells mounted with rat skin. The level of aceclofenac permeated was analyzed by HPLC and the droplet size' of the microemulsions was characterized using a Zetasizer Nano-ZS. Terpenes were added to the microemulsions at a level of $5\%$, and their effects on the skin permeation of aceclofenac were investigated. The mean diameters of the microemulsions ranged between approximately $10\~100nm$, and the skin permeability of the aceclofenac incorporated into the microemulsion systems was 5-fold higher than that of the ethanol vehicle. Of the various terpenes added, limonene had the best enhancing ability. These results indicate that the microemulsion pystem studied is a promising tool for the percutaneous delivery of aceclofenac.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2003.03a
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• pp.220-220
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• 2003

The microencapsulation of droplets or particles within a solid shell leads to the formation of core-shell particles. Microencapsulation provides protection and controlled release of core materials such as drugs, vitamins, enzymes, perfumes, and the like. Such particles have, therefore, found a diverse range of applications in the pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmetic, and food industries. UV absorbers are widely used for cosmetics to screen out ultra violet (UV) rays which have side effects on human skin. The absorbers are made generally from synthetic organic compounds, which can stimulate the human skins to develop allergic phenomena.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.373-380
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• 2008

In order to develop optimal formulation and iontophoresis condition for the transdermal delivery of levodopa, we have evaluated the effect of two permeation enhancers, ethanol and oleic acid in microemulsion, on transdermal delivery of levodopa. In vitro flux studies were performed at $33^{\circ}C$, using side-by-side diffusion cell and full thickness hairless mouse skin. Current density applied was $0.4\;mA/cm^2$ and current was off after 6 hours application. Levodopa was analysed by HPLC at 280 nm. The o/w microemulsions of oleic acid in buffer solution (pH 2.5 & 4.5) were prepared using oleic acid, Tween 80 and ethanol. The existence of microemulsion regions were investigated in pseudo-ternary phase diagrams. Contrary to our expectation, cumulative amount of levodopa transported from microemulsion (pH 2.5) for 10 hours was similar to that from aqueous solution in all delivery methods (passive, anodal and cathodal). When pH of the micro-emulsion was pH 4.5, cumulative amount of levodopa transported for 10 hours increased about 40% (anodal) to 50% (cathodal), when compared to that from aqueous solution. Flux from pH 4.5 microemulsion showed higher value than that from pH 2.5 in all delivery methods. These results seem to indicate that electroosmosis plays more dominant role than electrorepulsion in the flux of levodopa at pH 2.5. The effect of ethanol on iontophoretic flux was studied using pH 2.5 phosphate buffer solution containing 3% or 5% (v/v) ethanol. Flux enhancement was observed in passive and anodal delivery as the concentration of the ethanol increased. Without ethanol, cathodal delivery showed higher flux than anodal delivery. Anodal delivery increased the cumulative amount of levodopa transported 1.6 fold by 5% ethanol after 10 hours. However, in cathodal delivery, no flux enhancement of levodopa was observed during current application and only marginal increase in cumulative amount transported after 10 hours was observed by 5% ethanol. These results seem to be related to the decrease in dielectric constant of the medium and the lipid extraction of the ethanol, which decrease the electroosmotic flow, and thus decrease the flux. Overall, the results provide important insights into the role of electroosmosis and electrorepulsion in the transport of levodopa through skin, and provide some useful informations for optimal formulation for levodopa.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-21
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• 2011

This review describes several kinds of emulsification methods for nanoemulsions and the application of nanoemulsions. Nanoemulsion droplet sizes fall typically in the range of 20 ~200 nm and show narrow size distributions. Although most of the publications on either oil-in-water (O/W) or water-in-oil (W/O) nanoemulsions have reported their formation by dispersion or high-energy emulsification methods, an increased interest is observed in the study of nano-emulsion formation by condensation or low-energy emulsification methods based on the phase transitions that take place during the emulsification process. Phase behaviour studies have shown that the size of the droplets is governed by the surfactant phase structure (bicontinuous microemulsion or lamellar) at the inversion point induced by either temperature or composition. Studies on nanoemulsion formation by the phase inversion temperature (PIT) method have shown a relation between minimum droplet size and complete solubilization of the oil in a microemulsion bicontinuous phase independently of whether the initial phase equilibrium is single or multiphase. Due to their small droplet size nanoemulsions possess stability against sedimentation or creaming with Ostwald ripening forming the main mechanism of nanoemulsion breakdown. An application of nanoemulsions is the preparation of nanoparticles using a polymerizable monomer as the disperse phase where nanoemulsion droplets act as nanoreactors, cosmetics and controlled drug delivery. In this review, we mainly focus on the cosmetics.