Synthesis, stability and selection study of oil-in-water nanoemulsions containing Nigella Sativa L. Essential Oil
Authors
Advisors
Issue Date
Type
Keywords
Citation
Abstract
Targeted drug delivery has a great importance in cancer treatment and is in interest of many scientists worldwide. Targeted drug delivery renders local treatment of cancerous cells possible without affecting healthy cells. Hydrogels are promising materials to be used in targeted drug delivery systems due to their biocompatible nature and injectable behaviors where they can be used to load drugs. However, considering that not all the drugs are water soluble, entrapment of some drugs into hydrogels is not practical in terms of poor drug solubility and burst drug release because of this. At this point, an oil phase can be considered as a drug carrying agent, and entrapment of this oil phase into hydrogel would make it possible for in-situ injection of dissolved drug in oil phase. Oil in water (O/W)-type nanoemulsions were prepared using black seed oil, which is known to cause apoptosis via p-53 dependent mechanism, water and Triton X-100, Span-80 surfactant combinations. Three different oil percentage and three different surfactant percentage were tested, and stability behaviors of nanoemulsions were investigated and compared. Dynamic light scattering analysis and zeta potential measurements were conducted for determination of particles sizes and surface charges of the nanoemulsions. The most stable nanoemulsion along with having smallest diameter and lowest polydispersity index (PDI) was used for further studies. Results indicated that using both hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfactants together increased the stability of nanoemulsions compared to those using either of them.