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Pickering emulsions appear as a multifunctional dosage form with endless advantages. A great deal of progress is expected in this area, which might represent a renewed vision for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.

Polymer-based eye drops are the most used drug delivery system to treat dry eye disease (DED). Therefore, the mucoadhesion between the polymer and the ocular mucin is crucial to ensure the efficacy of the treatment. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the potential use of in vitro methods to study the mucoadhesion of eye drop solutions and, specifically to evaluate the efficacy of two hyaluronic acid-based formulations (HA), HA 0.15% and 0.30% (w/v) to treat DED. Rheology methods and zeta potential determination were used to study the mucoadhesive properties of both eye drop solutions. All results indicated that interactions occurred between the mucin and the HA, being stronger with HA 0.30%, due to the physical entanglements and hydrogen bounding. In vitro tests on ARPE-19 cell line were performed using a 2D and a 3D dry eye model and the results have shown that pre-treated cells with HA showed a morphology more similar to the hydrated cells in both products, with a high survival rate. The in vitro techniques used in this study have been shown to be suitable to evaluate and predict mucoadhesive properties and the efficacy of the eye drops on relief or treatment of DED. The results obtained from these methods may help in inferring possible in vivo effects.

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Spent coffee grounds and green coffee defective beans, which are industrial sub-products of coffee processing, have a potential use for cosmetic applications, due to their safety and high content in lipids that present interesting physicochemical properties. Sunscreen formulations in the form of water-in-oil emulsions might be a suitable application for these sub-products because providing a higher sun protection factor (SPF) for the same concentration of sunscreen activities than oil-in-water emulsions. The purpose of this work was to assess the biological effects of using the oil fraction of spent coffee grounds extracted with supercritical CO 2 and green coffee oil in the development of new generation of sunscreens with improved sun protection performance. The oil fractions were used to prepare w/o sunscreens involving a cold emulsification process, with purified water as disperse aqueous phase and TiO 2 and ZnO particles as stabilizers. The sunscreens were characterized in terms of mechanical, rheological and skin adhesion properties. In addition, the in vitro and in vivo biological properties of the formulations were evaluated, including safety and sunscreen water resistance tests. The use of two types of solid particles proved to be useful in the developed formulations, ensuring a high SPF with UVB/A protection, conferred by TiO 2 and ZnO, respectively. Moreover, the emulsion containing 35% w/w of the spent coffee grounds oil fraction presented promising characteristics in the improvement of water performance with a broad spectrum sun protection when compared to an emulsion containing 35% w/w of green coffee oil which improved the SPF in physical sunscreens. The formulations are industrial-scalable and suitable for topical use according to the rheological, mechanical and safety assessment. The use of spent coffee oil in cosmetic industry seems to be a suitable approach for the valorisation of waste from the coffee industry and presents promising characteristics in the improvement of sunscreen performance.

Oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions for cosmetic use, such as lotions and creams, are complex multiple-phase systems, which may contain a number of interacting surfactants, fatty amphiphiles, polymers and other excipients. This study investigates the influence of two synthetic cationic polymers, Polyquaternium-7 and Polyquaternium-11, and the natural anionic polymer, gum of acacia, on the rheology and microstructure of creams prepared with a non-ionic mixed emulsifier (cetyl stearyl alcohol-12EO/cetyl alcohol) using rheology (continuous shear, and viscoelastic creep and oscillation), microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). A control cream containing no polymer was also investigated. The semisolid control cream was structured by a swollen lamellar gel network phase formed from the interaction of cetyl alcohol and the POE surfactant, in excess of that required to stabilize oil droplets, with continuous phase water. Endothermic transitions between 25 and 100 degrees C were identified as components of this phase. Incorporation of cationic polymer into the formulation caused significant loss of structure to produce a mobile semisolid containing larger oil droplets. The microscopical and thermal data implied that the cationic polymer caused the swollen lamellar gel network phase to transform into non-swollen crystals of cetyl alcohol. In contrast, incorporation of gum of acacia produced a thicker cream than the control, with smaller droplet sizes and little evidence of the gel network. Microscopical and thermal data implied that although there were also interactions between gum of acacia and both the surfactant and the swollen gel network phase, the semisolid properties were probably because of the ability of the gum of acacia to stabilize and thicken the emulsion in the absence of the swollen lamellar network.

Spent coffee grounds (SCG), which are the residue obtained from the treatment of coffee with hot water or steam, can be used for industrial applications, due to the high content in lipids. The cosmetic products might be a suitable application for these types of residues because the barrier properties of the stratum corneum (SC) are largely dependent on the intactness of the lipid lamellae that surrounds the corneocytes. The purpose of this work was to assess the feasibility of using the lipid fraction of SCG extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide in the development of new cosmetic formulations with improved skin lipids (sebum) and hydration. The use of spent coffee lipid extract in cosmetic industry seems to be a suitable approach to recycle the wastes from coffee industry. Emulsion containing 10% of the lipid fraction of SCG (SpentCofOil cream) presented promising characteristics in the improvement of sebum skin levels with a good acceptance by consumers when compared to an emulsion containing 10% w/w of green coffee oil (GreenCofOil cream) and a placebo without coffee oil (NoCofOil cream).Practical applications: In this work, the authors develop and characterize a cream containing 10% of the lipid fraction of SCG extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide with improved skin lipids (sebum) and hydration.

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