Supercooled smectic nanoparticles: Influence of the matrix composition and in vitro cytotoxicity

Influence of stabilizer systems on the properties and phase behavior of supercooled smectic nanoparticles

“…The WAXS pattern of the smectic phase only displays diffuse scattering due to a lack of short-range order of the molecules [1,6]. In contrast, crystalline CM exhibits characteristic WAXS-reflections but also several reflections in the small angle range due to the large repeat distance (about 51 Å) of the bilayer crystal structure ( [1,4], see also According to their SAXS-patterns all CM nanoparticle under investigation were in the smectic state (Fig. 2).…”

“…It has been intensively studied particularly in colloidal fat emulsions where some adverse effects have been related to the liposomal fraction in these formulations [26,27]. In dispersions of smectic nanoparticles the liposomal fraction could also be distinguished from the smectic nanoparticles in freeze-fracture TEM [1,4]. In addition to vesicles, very small rod-like structures with high contrast were present but difficult to detect in the cryo-TEM images due to their small size.…”

“…9A) in phospholipidcontaining lipid nanoparticle formulations like colloidal fat emulsions [21][22][23], solid lipid nanoparticles [24,25] and supercooled smectic nanoparticles [1,2,4] has often been described. It has been intensively studied particularly in colloidal fat emulsions where some adverse effects have been related to the liposomal fraction in these formulations [26,27].…”

“…Upon cooling, the smectic phase may persist at temperatures at which the crystalline form is the thermodynamically stable one (i.e. be supercooled) already in the bulk phase [1,4]. Due to the absence of crystallization promoting impurities in the individual nanoparticles, supercooling is even more pronounced in the colloidal state [1,2].…”

“…Dispersions of supercooled smectic cholesterol ester nanoparticles have been introduced as potential novel carrier system for poorly water soluble, lipophilic drugs [1][2][3][4]. Cholesterol esters are non-polar lipids and are the physiological storage and transport form of cholesterol occurring in lipoproteins, mainly low density lipoproteins (LDL [5]).…”