Skin becomes a target of drug delivery because the transdermal routes are non-invasive, can be self-administrated, improves patient compliance and can provide release for long periods of time. The hydrophobic interaction between drug carrier and lipid layers has been accepted as one possible mechanism for changing the lipid packing in Stratum Corneum (SC), which leads to the enhancement of skin permeability. In general, hydrophobic interaction is extensively influenced by the hydrophobic chain length of the surfactant based drug carrier. However, the influence of surfactant hydrophobic chain fluidity is not fully understood yet, which is a key requirement for designing high-efficiency drug delivery system. In this work, neutron reflectivity (NR) is used to provide insights into the interactions between oleyl bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methyl ammonium bromide (OHAB), cetyl bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methyl ammonium bromide (C16HAB), stearyl bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methyl ammonium bromide (C18HAB) and isostearyl bis(2-hydroxyethyl)methyl ammonium bromide (IHAB), and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) monolayer. The results indicate that the phospholipids were depleted by the surfactants mainly through hydrophobic interactions. The interaction gradually increases in the order of C16HAB, C18HAB, OHAB and IHAB, which perfectly coordinates with the fluidity of these molecules. The ability of a surfactant to associate with skin lipids to form water-dispersible micelles was found to be a function of the hydrophobic chain fluidity. This work provides important advances in understanding the mechanism of lipid-surfactant interaction from the fluidity of molecules, which can ultimately contribute to the development of surfactant based drug carrier.

Interaction of surfactant with model lipid membranes: Influence of surfactant hydrophobic chain fluidity

2019 Spring National Meeting

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