Nanoemulsions have attracted much attention due to their wide application in commercial industries such as pharmaceutics, food, beverages and skin care. Cremophor EL has been extensively used for emulsification, protection and solubilization of various lipophilic bioactive agents. However, their anaphylactoid hypersensitivity reactions are still challenging. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop and characterize a promising, low-level Cremophor EL-stabilized o/w nanoemulsion using the spontaneous emulsification method for oral administration. From comparing the physicochemical properties (particle size and size distribution) of their emulsions, Cremophor has better emulsifying capacity than Tween and the droplet radius of emulsions can be reduced by increasing the surfactant concentration in current systems. The impact of various short-chain alcohols (C-OH < 5) on the formation and stability of nanoemulsions was also investigated to optimize the formulations. And there is a good correlation between nanoemulsion droplet size and the surfactant packing parameter (p). The smallest droplet size with the narrowest size distribution was produced by the system containing ethylene glycol as a cosurfactant. However, preparation of nanoemulsions with ethylene glycol was a time-consuming process since it was difficult to emulsify the water-induced gel-structure. Surfactantto-oil mass ratio and surfactant-to-cosurfactant levels had to be optimized to produce fine droplets.Moreover, there was a linear relationship between the viscosity/log P value of alcohols and droplet size.Ostwald ripening was the dominant breakdown process of nanoemulsions obtained in the ethyl oleate/ Cremophor EL-butanol (3 : 2)/water system. Ostwald ripening rate was increased with increasing surfactant concentration. Dilution (100Â) of this system considerably improved their stability against droplet growth. This study demonstrated that alcohol addition might be a useful tool for preparing Cremophor EL-stabilized nanoemulsions for pharmaceutical applications.

BackgroundNorcantharidin (NCTD), a demethylated derivative of cantharidin (defensive toxin of blister beetles), has been reported to exhibit insecticidal activity against various types of agricultural pests. However, NCTD applications are limited by its poor water solubility and high dosage requirement. Nanoemulsions have attracted much attentions due to the transparent or translucence appearance, physical stability, high bioavailability and non-irritant in nature. In general, nanoemulsions with small droplet size can enhance the bioavailability of drugs, whereas this phenomenon is likely system dependent. In present study, NCTD nanoemulsions were developed and optimized to evaluate and improve the insecticidal activity of NCTD against Plutella xylostella (Lepidotera: Plutellidae) by a spontaneous emulsification method.ResultsTriacetin, Cremophor EL and butanol were selected as the constituents of NCTD nanoemulsions via solubility determination, emulsification efficiency and ternary phase diagram construction. Insecticidal activity of NCTD nanoemulsion was associated with the content of surfactant and cosurfactant: (1) Higher effective toxicity exhibited at Smix (surfactant to cosurfactant mass ratio) = 3:1 that may be associated with the changes in interfacial tension; (2) NCTD nanoemulsion at 3:7 < SOR (surfactant to oil mass ratio) < 6:4 was more effective at lower surfactant level, which was attributed to the relatively slow diffusion rate of NCTD hindering by excess surfactant. Interestingly, nanoemulsions with smaller droplets were not found to be more effective in our study.ConclusionsThe optimized NCTD nanoemulsion (triacetin/Cremophor EL/butanol (60/20/20, w/w)) exhibited effective insecticidal activity (LC50 60.414 mg/l, LC90 185.530 mg/l, 48 h) than the NCTD acetone solution (LC50 175.602 mg/L, LC90 303.050 mg/L, 48 h). Spontaneous emulsifying nanoemulsion employed to formulate this poor water-soluble pesticide is a potential system for agriculture application.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12896-019-0508-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

This study focused on developing a self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) containing bioactive surfactants under an efficient screening approach for overcoming problems associated with the delivery of norcantharidin (NCTD), a high dose chemotherapy agent having pH dependent solubility. Preliminary screening was implemented to select proper components combination. Besides the solubility of NCTD in the oil phase, emulsifying efficiency, droplet size and size distribution were also employed to select components of the SNEDDS. Moreover, the influence of surfactant and co-surfactant on the interfacial tension and droplets of nanoemulsions were investigated to further understand the mechanism of spontaneous emulsification. Co-surfactant addition promoted the emulsification via reducing the water/oil interfacial tension and viscosity. Ternary phase diagrams were constructed to investigate the phase behavior and designate the optimum systems. The alternative formulations were characterized for cloud point, dilution robustness, droplet size, polydispersity index (PDI) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In vitro dissolution study showed that the dissolution rate of optimized formulation (NCTD 10 mg/g, EO 50 wt.%, Cremophor EL 35 wt.%, ethylene glycol 15 wt.%) was slower than drug suspension under the same conditions, confirming that the developed SNEDDS formulation would exhibit sustained release potential.