Influence of sonication and in vitro evaluation of nifedipine self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system

In order to develop a self-nanoemulsifying system, three components, olive oil, Tween 80, and Capmul, were used to construct a ternary phase diagram that helped to find the optimum formulation, which was loaded with nifedipine. The effect of sonication on drug loading was also evaluated. After that, measurement of the droplet size, size distribution, zeta potential, and scanning electron microscopy were conducted for evaluation and characterisation of the formulations. The phase diagram of four formulations showed nanosizes below 200 nm; however, only one was selected to be loaded with nifedipine. The selected formulation had the lowest droplet size of 98 nm and size distribution 0.192, and was composed of 48% Tween 80, 32% Capmul, and 20% olive oil. The nifedipine self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) showed a significant change in the particle size (97 nm) and size distribution (0.257) after sonication. Its zeta potential was -32.3 mV indicating good stability. The SEM photographs of nifedipine showed particles with spherical shape and smooth surface. Finally, a self-nanoemulsifying formulation containing nifedipine, loaded in olive oil, was successfully prepared by mixing the oil with various types of surfactants and co-surfactants. A significant nifedipine self-nanoemulsifying system was developed and significantly improved accordingly.

Awareness of Libyan Students and Academic Staff Members of Nanotechnology.

At the present time, nanotechnology is involved in every aspect of scientific life and its applications are being integrated into the economy, industry, trade and medicine. The world will require a skilled work force of more than two million nanotechnologists by 2015. The rapid advance in all fields of nanotechnology has led to integrate nanotechnology courses in high schools, institutes and university curricula all over the world. However, nanotechnology has not as, yet been integrated within the Libyan curricula at any level. Thus, this study focuses and explores the awareness of the academic staff and students in Tripoli (Alfateh) University about nanotechnology and nanoscience. Moreover their readiness to integrate the basics and applications into Libyan education curricula. The results show that education level and work place have an effect on the knowledge of the participants on nanotechnology, where about 65% of PhD degree holders knew about nanotechnology and were keen to learn and integrate this technology in the education system. Around 40 % of the participants’ information about Nanotechnology were gained from the internet while only 17% had obtained information from their own readings. The majority of the participants (60%) supported the idea of introducing nanotechnology studies to the curricula at pre-graduate stage. However, 29% believed that it should be integrated only in postgraduate studies, and only a few of the participants (11.3%) advised that a continuing education program would be the proper way to study nanotechnology. This study showed that relatively little awareness about nanotechnology is seen among Libyan staff members and students. However, the majority of the participants have realized the importance of the field of nanotechnology and its application, and were eager to learn more about this advanced technology. Based on the preliminary study regarding the opinion and readiness of participants of the current study, it is believed that the integration of nanotechnology and nanosciences in Libyan curricula at different levels of education is an inevitable step to meet the very rapid advances in the field of nanotechnology and its applications.

Development of Avocado oil Nanoemulsion Hydrogel using Sucrose Ester Stearate.

Nanoemulsion is submicron sized emulsion typically in the range of 20-200 nm. Avocado oil is often used in herbal skin care. The aim of this study was to characterize nanoemulsion hydrogel prepared using avocado oil and sucrose ester stearate as surfactant. The nanoemulsion hydrogel were prepared by nanophase emulsification technique. These formulations were examined using zetasizer to determined the mean diameter of dispersed oil droplets, polydispersibility index (PDI) and zeta potential. Moreover viscosity of the prepared nanoemulsion hydrogel were studied. The results reveled that nanoemulsion prepared with 60% w/w oil, 24% w/w glycerol and 16% w/w surfactant showed droplets size below 200 nm with good polydispersibility index and zeta potential < - 30 mV. The optimum formulation of nanoemulsion was prepared in the form of nanoemulsion hydrogel using carbopols 934 and 940. The results of the viscometer for the nanoemulsion hydrogel showed that the storage modulus (G’) which describes the elasticity of the component were greater than the loss modulus (G”) values which reveals the viscosity of the component.