THE EFFECTS OF NONIONIC SURFACTANTS AND POLYMERS ON O/W/O EMULSION ENCAPSULATING RETINOL

Abstract

Retinol has been used widely for cosmetics and pharmaceutics because it has an influence on the wrinkles and the skin aging. Besides, the deficiency of this compound causes roughening of the skin and degeneration of mucous membranes. However, retinol is very unstable against light, heat and oxygen. Many studies have attempted to reduce a denaturalization of retinol through the encapsulation of retinol in particles or the addition of antioxidants. In this study, we performed the emulsification of retinol as previous stage for the encapsulation of retinol into the solid particles. The emulsification of retinol was achieved in the Oil-in-Water-in-Oil (O/W/O) multiple emulsion. Tween20 and Span80 are used as surfactants and polyethylene glycol (PEG) and hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) are used as stabilizers. It was found that the morphology of the multiple emulsion depends on the addition of stabilizers and the concentration of surfactants. The morphology and the size distribution of emulsion were studied by optical microscopy and the phase separation of O/W/O emulsion was also investigated. Retinol-loaded solid particles were prepared by the addition of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in the O/W/O emulsion. Encapsulation efficiency of retinol was determined from high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Besides, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) was used to observe the morphology and the size of particles.