Spherulites: A new vesicular system with promising applications. An example: Enzyme microencapsulation

Abstract

A new technology is tested for enzyme encapsulation. The capsules are small multilamellar vesicles of surfactant called spherulites which are produced by shearing a lamellar phase under well-controlled conditions. Encapsulation of alkaline phosphatase into spherulites is studied here as an example. Once encapsulated, the enzyme is shown to be unable to develop any enzymatic activity on its substrate, the p-nitrophenylphosphate. This is due to the absence of contact between the enzyme and the substrate. Interestingly, the whole enzymatic activity is recovered after destruction of the vesicles. Encapsulation efficiency ranges between 70% and 95% depending upon the enzyme over phospholipids ratio. Beyond the example of alkaline phosphatase, many applications of spherulites in the medical or in the biotechnology fields seem now at hand.

Preparation of Polyamide Nanocapsules of Aloe vera L. Delivery with In Vivo Studies

“…Olive oil also possesses high biocompatibility and similarity to nutraceutical oils. The resulting solution is then put under ultrasound and then the acetone has been removed under vacuum (17)(18)(19). Finally, for removing the water, the solution is transferred to a freeze drier system.…”

“…There is now less said about doubts as to the efficacy of the material, although there are some warnings of allergic side effects (13,14). However, many commentators clearly distinguish between the two parts and describe in some detail how the gel is prepared (15)(16)(17). The action of aloe gel as a moisturizing agent is still a popular concept and may account for much of its effect.…”

A novel viscoelastic system from a cationic surfactant and a hydrophobic counterion

“…They play an important role in polymerization processes to control the architecture of the resulting polymers that are based on vesicles as a matrix [21]. Vesicles were also tested for enzyme encapsulation [22], or as components of artificial photosynthesis, metallic, magnetic, and semiconducting nanoparticles [20].…”

Planar lamellae and onions: a spatially resolved rheo–NMR approach to the shear-induced structural transformations in a surfactant model system

“…Therefore MLVs, which are metastable and may persist for long times, are investigated as possible containers and delivery systems for drugs and nanoparticles. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] They also show potential as microreactors.…”