Chen Liang-Hsun, Cheng Li-Chiun, Doyle Patrick S
Department of Chemical Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge MA 02139 USA.
Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise Singapore 138602 Singapore.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2020 Aug 28;7(20):2001677. doi: 10.1002/advs.202001677. eCollection 2020 Oct.
Nanoemulsions have become ideal candidates for loading hydrophobic active ingredients and enhancing their bioavailability in the pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. However, the lack of versatile carrier platforms for nanoemulsions hinders advanced control over their release behavior. In this work, a method is developed to encapsulate nanoemulsions in alginate capsules for the controlled delivery of lipophilic active ingredients. Functional nanoemulsions loaded with active ingredients and calcium ions are first prepared, followed by encapsulation inside alginate shells. The intrinsically high viscosity of the nanoemulsions ensures the formation of spherical capsules and high encapsulation efficiency during the synthesis. Moreover, a facile approach is developed to measure the nanoemulsion release profile from capsules through UV-vis measurement without an additional extraction step. A quantitative analysis of the release profiles shows that the capsule systems possess a tunable, delayed-burst release. The encapsulation methodology is generalized to other active ingredients, oil phases, nanodroplet sizes, and chemically crosslinked inner hydrogel cores. Overall, the capsule systems provide promising platforms for various functional nanoemulsion formulations.
纳米乳液已成为在制药、食品和化妆品行业中负载疏水性活性成分并提高其生物利用度的理想选择。然而，缺乏适用于纳米乳液的通用载体平台阻碍了对其释放行为的精确控制。在这项工作中，开发了一种将纳米乳液封装在藻酸盐胶囊中以控制亲脂性活性成分释放的方法。首先制备负载活性成分和钙离子的功能性纳米乳液，然后将其封装在藻酸盐壳内。纳米乳液固有的高粘度确保了在合成过程中形成球形胶囊并具有高封装效率。此外，还开发了一种简便的方法，通过紫外可见光谱测量来测量纳米乳液从胶囊中的释放曲线，而无需额外的萃取步骤。对释放曲线的定量分析表明，胶囊系统具有可调节的延迟突发释放特性。该封装方法可推广到其他活性成分、油相、纳米液滴尺寸以及化学交联的内部水凝胶核。总体而言，胶囊系统为各种功能性纳米乳液制剂提供了有前景的平台。
