ABSTRACT
Size Distribution of the Dispersed Particles .................... 355 13.3 Encapsulation Efficiency.................................................... 360 13.4 Small-Angle X-Ray Diffraction.......................................... 361 13.5 Cubosomes and Lipid Cubic Particles .............................. 362 13.6 Low-Temperature Scanning
Electron Microscopy ........................................................... 364 13.7 Physical and Chemical Stability of
the Liquid Formulation...................................................... 364 13.8 Stability of Cubosome Dispersion Prepared
from Liquid Formulation ................................................... 365 13.9 Ability to Form Cubosome from
Liquid Formulation after Storage ..................................... 366 13.10
In Vitro
Drug Release ........................................................ 367 13.11
In Vitro
and
In Vivo
Toxicity of Cubosome Prepared from a Liquid Formulation................................ 370
13.12
In Vitro
Cellular Association of Drugs from Cubosome ................................................................... 373
13.13 Solubilization of Cubosome by Bile Salt and Absorption of Mixed Micelles ............................................ 376
13.14 Oral Delivery of Cubosome Encapsulating Pyrene.................................................................................. 379
13.15 Oral Delivery of Cubosome Encapsulating Insulin ................................................................................. 380
13.16 Oral Vaccination by Antigen Loaded in Cubosome........................................................................ 381
13.17 Conclusions ......................................................................... 383 References....................................................................................... 384
Based on the scientific understanding of lipid particulate systems, many scientists have pursued the development of better lipid formulations for their own application fields. Numerous innovative lipid particulate systems have been formulated in recent years. One particularly interesting system is Cubosome
(1). Cubosome refers to a submicron-sized dispersed lipid particle of the bicontinuous cubic liquid-crystalline phases in an aqueous environment. A great number of studies have been performed to investigate the structure (2,3) and the mathematical description of Cubosome particles (4,5). One of the main application fields for Cubosome is drug delivery (6,7). Cubosomes have distinctly different characteristics from other conventional lipid-particulate systems including liposomes and lipid emulsions. The interior of the particles is considered the hydrated cubic phase, which contains hydrophilic water channels, the hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain region, and the interfacial headgroup region (6). This somewhat complex internal structure is an ideal setting for many drugs of hydrophobic, hydrophilic, and amphiphilic nature.
