Lipid liquid/solid systems

Jenning V., Thunemann A.R, and Gohla S.H., Characterisation of a novel solid lipid nanoparticle carrier system based on binary mixtures of liquid and solid lipids, Int. J. Pharm., 199, 167, 2000. 

In the SC lipids form two crystalline lamellar phases.27 The mixture of both phases produces the optimal barrier to water loss from SC. The balance between the liquid crystalline and the solid crystal phases is determined by the degree of fatty acid unsaturation, the amount of water, and probably by other yet undiscovered factors. A pure liquid crystal system, produced by an all-unsaturated fatty acid mixture, allows a rapid water loss through the bilayers with a moderate barrier action. The solid system produced with an all-saturated fatty acid mixture causes an extreme water loss due to breaks in the solid crystal phase.6,23 Studies with mixtures prepared with isolated ceramides revealed that cholesterol and ceramides are very important for the formation of the lamellar phases, and the presence of ceramide 1 is crucial for the formation of the long-periodicity phase.27 The occurrence of dry skin associated with cold, dry weather for example, may result from an extensive, elevated level of skin lipids in the solid state. Therefore, a material that maintains a higher proportion of lipid in the liquid crystalline state may be an effective moisturizer.6... 

Nanostructure lipid carriers indicate lipid particles with a disperse phase made of a mixture of solid and liquid lipids. Owing to the decreased melting point of the lipid phase, such systems can be produced at lower temperatures, reducing the extent of degradation of the thermolabile compounds. "... 

Before analysis, lipids from solid foods are extracted with either a single, nonpolar solvent or a mixture of several organic solvents, such as hexane/2-propanol or chloroform/methanol, followed (if necessary) by sample cleanup procedures. In case of liquid foods (such as oils), the extraction step is often unnecessary, so that the samples can be injected directly into the LC system. 

Recent developments m calorimetry have focused primarily on the calorimetry of biochemical systems, with the study of complex systems such as micelles, protems and lipids using microcalorimeters. Over the last 20 years microcalorimeters of various types including flow, titration, dilution, perfiision calorimeters and calorimeters used for the study of the dissolution of gases, liquids and solids have been developed. A more recent development is pressure-controlled scamiing calorimetry [26] where the thennal effects resulting from varying the pressure on a system either step-wise or continuously is studied. 

The investigation of semi-solid objects such as lipid membranes [34], liquid crystalline dispersions [35, 36], drug delivery systems [37], food [38] and also... 

The multilamellar bilayer structures that form spontaneously on adding water to solid- or liquid-phase phospholipids can be dispersed to form vesicular structures called liposomes. These are often employed in studies of bilayer properties and may be combined with membrane proteins to reconstitute functional membrane systems. A valuable technique for studying the properties of proteins inserted into bilayers employs a single bilayer lamella, also termed a black lipid membrane, formed across a small aperture in a thin partition between two aqueous compartments. Because pristine lipid bilayers have very low ion conductivities, the modifications of ion-conducting... 

In aqueous systems, membrane lipids may exist in a gel-like solid state or as a two-dimensional liquid. In the case of pure phospholipids, these states interconvert at a well-defined transition temperature, Tc, that increases with alkyl chain length and decreases with introduction of alkyl chain unsaturation. In cell membranes, which have marked heterogeneity in both the polar and nonpolar domains of the bilayer, this state is described as liquid disordered . The presence of sufficient sphingolipids, with... 

The extraction and measurement of lipids may require several steps, these include (1) Pretreatment, including drying, size reduction, and possibly acid hydrolysis to release lipids. (2) Homogenization of the tissue in the presence of a sol vent/solvent system. (3) Separation of liquids from solids. (4) Removal of nonlipid contaminants. (5) Removal of solvent and drying. (6) Calculating the content of lipids by weight difference. 

Reversed-phase chromatography is the term commonly applied to a system where a nonpolar liquid phase is coated on the solid support and elution carried out with an immiscible polar phase. Such systems are often necessary for separations which cannot be carried out by normal partition or adsorption chromatography. For TLC, the stationary phase is normally a liquid of high boiling point which does not readily evaporate from the adsorbent. Paraffin oil, silicone oil or n-tetradecane coated on silica gel or Kieselguhr are frequently used with water-based mobile phases such as acetone—water (3 2) or acetic acid-water (3 1). Reversed-phase chromatography is very useful for the TLC analysis of lipids and related compounds. 

Emulsions and suspensions are colloidal dispersions of two or more immiscible phases in which one phase (disperse or internal phase) is dispersed as droplets or particles into another phase (continuous or dispersant phase). Therefore, various types of colloidal systems can be obtained. For example, oil/water and water /oil single emulsions can be prepared, as well as so-called multiple emulsions, which involve the preliminary emulsification of two phases (e.g., w/o or o/w), followed by secondary emulsification into a third phase leading to a three-phase mixture, such as w/o/w or o/w/o. Suspensions where a solid phase is dispersed into a liquid phase can also be obtained. In this case, solid particles can be (i) microspheres, for example, spherical particles composed of various natural and synthetic materials with diameters in the micrometer range solid lipid microspheres, albumin microspheres, polymer microspheres and (ii) capsules, for example, small, coated particles loaded with a solid, a liquid, a solid-liquid dispersion or solid-gas dispersion. Aerosols, where the internal phase is constituted by a solid or a liquid phase dispersed in air as a continuous phase, represent another type of colloidal system. 

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