Formation behavior and stability of oil-in-water phospholipid microspheres prepared by microchannel emulsification technique

摘要

A novel microchannel (MC) emulsification technique for production of the super-monodispersed microspheres (MS) has been proposed recently. In this study, we investigated the formation behavior of the O/W-MS using lecithin and lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) as surfactants by employing the MC emulsification technique. When lecithin was used for the O/W-MS production, the coalescence of the formed MS and the continuous flow of the oil phase through the MC were observed. It was probably due to the wetting of the MC surface by the oil phase during the emulsification process. It implied that the monodispersed O/W-MS cannot be produced by using lecithin as surfactant. On the other hand, the monodispersed O/W-MS was produced successfully by using the hydrophilic LPC dissolved in the wate phase. Also using lecithin and LPC in both the oil and water phase, better result was obtained. The stability study of the produced MS was carried out by storing them at room temperature.