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Cinnamon leaf oil contains a high percentage of eugenol and has antimicrobial, antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. However, the undiluted oil can cause irritation to the skin. Therefore, the aims of this study were to develop and evaluate cinnamon leaf oil nanocream using palm oil. Nanocream base was prepared using different ratios of oil, surfactants and water. The surfactant used were mixture of Tween 80:Carbitol or Tween 80:Span 65 at different hydrophile-lipophile balance values. The pseudoternary phase diagrams were constructed to identify the nanocream base areas and the results showed that the nanocream bases using Span 65 as co-surfactant produced bigger cream area. Fifteen formulations using mixtures of Tween 80:Span 65 were further evaluated for accelerated stability test, droplet size, zeta potential, rheological properties and apparent viscosity. The nanocream base which had an average droplet size of 219 nm and had plastic low with thixotropic behavior was selected for incorporation of 2% cinnamon leaf oil. The nanocream containing cinnamon leaf oil had the average size of 286 nm and good rheological characteristics. The in vitro release study demonstrated that eugenol as the main constituent of cinnamon leaf oil was released for about 81% in 10 h. The short-term stability study conducted for 6 months showed that the cinnamon leaf oil nanocream was stable at a temperature of 25° and thus, cinnamon leaf oil nanocream is a promising natural based preparation to be used for topical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present work was to investigate the preparation of microspheres as potential drug carriers for proteins, intended for controlled release formulation. The hydrophilic bovine serum albumin was chosen as a model protein to be encapsulated within poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (50:50) microspheres using a w/o/w double emulsion solvent evaporation method. Different parameters influencing the particle size, entrapment efficiency and in vitro release profiles were investigated. The microspheres prepared with different molecular weight and hydrophilicity of poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) polymers were non porous, smooth surfaced and spherical in structure under scanning electron microscope with a mean particle size ranging from 3.98 to 8.74 mum. The protein loading efficiency varied from 40 to 71% of the theoretical amount incorporated. The in vitro release profile of bovine serum albumin from microspheres presented two phases, initial burst release phase due to the protein adsorbed on the microsphere surface, followed by slower and continuous release phase corresponding to the protein entrapped in polymer matrix. The release rate was fairly constant after an initial burst release. Consequently, these microspheres can be proposed as new controlled release protein delivery system.