Morphological Study of Emulsion-Assisted Cholesterol Precipitation Processes.

Crystallization of cholesterol in chemical conditions that involve the presence of emulsions of three different types of surface active agents - cationic, anionic, and nonionic - was investigated by means of scanning and transmission electron microscopic analyses. In contrast with the previous attempts to modify the typical plate- and needle-shaped character of biaxially grown cholesterol crystals, the present study indicates that spherical templates of fine emulsion droplets may impose spherical morphologies to cholesterol particles nucleated within. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]