In order to improve the encapsulation process, a newly supercritical antisolvent process was developed to encapsulate fish oil using hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose as a polymer. Three factors, namely, temperature, pressure, and feed emulsion rate were optimized using response surface methodology. The suitability of the model for predicting the optimum response value was evaluated at the conditions of temperature at 60°C, pressure at 150 bar, and feed rate at 1.36 mL/min. At the optimum conditions, particle size of 58.35 μm was obtained. The surface morphology of the micronized fish oil was also evaluated using field emission scanning electron microscopy where it showed that particles formed spherical structures with no internal voids. Moreover, in vitro release of oil showed that there are significant differences of release percentage of oil between the formulations and the results proved that there was a significant decrease in the in vitro release of oil from the powder when the polymer concentration was high.
Spray drying is an important method in the food industry for the production of encapsulated oil to improve the handling and flow properties of the powder. In this study, the effect of mixture of polymers on the encapsulation of fish oil by spray drying was investigated. Fish oil powder were produced using different ratios of mixtures of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) 15 cps and HPMC 5 cps. Scanning electron microscopy and the amount of extracted oil from the surface revealed that the formulation containing high concentration of polymer mixture provided the highest protective and prolonged effect on the covering of fish oil. The particle sizes of less than 60 μm were obtained for all the formulations. The powder density was very suitable, which improves the flowability of the powder. Microencapsulation efficiency (69.16-74.75%) and surface morphology of encapsulated oil showed that the stability was increased and hence increased its acceptability as alternative primary polymers.
PRACTICAL APPLICATIONSA relatively inexpensive and food-grade particles of encapsulated fish oil could be obtained, which are free from any organic solvents. Moreover, this process, parameters and technique could be facilitated in the food, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries.
The objective of this work was to formulate a Self Emulsifying Drug Delivery System (SEDDS) of simvastatin, a poorly soluble drug and to evaluate by in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo techniques. Oils and surfactants were screened out depending upon their solubilizing capacity. Among all of the solvents, Capryol 90 showed good solubilizing capacity. It dissolved 105 mg/ml of simvastatin. Tween-80 also showed good solubilizing capacity which was 117 mg/ml. The two excipients were used to prepare simvastatin SEDDS. Formulations were initially checked for the color, clarity and sedimentation. The SEDDS formulations were transparent and clear. Formulation F2 containing 7:3 (m/m) mixture of Capryol 90/Tween-80 produced smallest micro-emulsion with particles size of 0.074 µm and drug release was higher than other formulation (102% within 20 min). Ex vivo study of the SEDDS formulation was evaluated using guinea pig intestinal sac. Drug diffused from F2 formulation was significantly higher than pure drug (p < 0.001). In vivo study of SEDDS was performed in albino mice using plasma cholesterol level as a pharmacodynamic marker parameter. The test formulation (F2) appeared remarkable reduction in plasma cholesterol level, after oral administration which showed that SEDDS may be an effective technique for the oral administration of simvastatin.
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