Lipid microspheres for controlled drug delivery

Pickering emulsions are either oil-in-water (O/W) or water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions stabilized by solid particles at the interface of the two liquids, thus avoiding coalescence of the emulsion. It can be potentially used in the pharmaceutical industry for oral and topical delivery systems, as well as in the cosmetic industry substituting the emulsions excised in the market due to improved characteristics. Pickering emulsions withhold several advantages over emulsion, first higher stability, second lower toxicity in the absence of surfactants and third encapsulation of one or several active ingredients. Till date, preparation, and characterization of the solid lipid Pickering particles is missing, therefore, in this work we cover a wide range of preparations of a unique solid core pickering particles supported by surface modified nanoparticles. The surface modification of the nanoparticles was performed by adsorbing the coating agents over the nanoparticles. The chosen lipids usually had the high melting points of 45 0C and more, and include fatty alcohol and hydrogenated vegetable oils. The surface modified nanoparticles examined were primarily of silica as an example. The preparation method allowed control over the size of particles in the range of 5-100 µm. We believe that using a surface modified nanoparticle will synergistically improve the drug release properties, aqueous/nonaqueous stabilities of the solid-lipid Pickering particles and is a part of our ongoing research.