558 Scientia Pharmaceutica www.scipharm.at Presented at the 8 th Central European Symposium on Pharmaceutical Technology, September 16 th –18 th 2010, Graz, Austria. Conference abstract LDD04 New Hierarchically Organized Systems for Delivery O. GLATTER , C. KULKARNI, A. CHEMELLI Department of Chemistry, Karl-Franzens University, Graz, Austria E-mail: otto.glatter@uni-graz.at (O. Glatter) Sci Pharm. 2010; 78: 558 doi:10.3797/scipharm.cespt.8.LDD04 Monoglycerides, Phytantriol and a few other lipophilic molecules self-assemble in bulk in presence of water to form well defined liquid crystalline phases. Their structure can be tuned by temperature variation and/or by addition of oils. This leads to gel-like or fluid systems with a large internal interface between water and oil domains with different bulk viscosities. These nanostructured phases can be dispersed in the excess water phase by addition of an external stabilizer and energy input leading to internally self-assembled particles, so-called ISAsomes [1–4]. These ISAsomes are potential carrier systems for hydrophilic, amphiphilic and lipophilic functional molecules. The hierarchical structure can be extended to a next level by gellifying the continuous aqueous phase by the addition of polymers like κ–Carrageenan or Methylcellulose. This leads to a new type of hydrogel, loaded with ISAsomes [5, 6]. Differently to the original oil-continuous bulk phase, the viscosity of this, now water-continuous, system can be varied in a wide range by composition. These gels can even be dried into foils and re-dispersed on demand. Finally, we can use the oil-continuous nanostructured bulk phase to create concentrated, stable water in oil emulsions having a paste-like consistency and water content from 50% up to 90% by volume. No additional stabilizer is needed to create these systems. They have a great potential as delivery systems for functional molecules in very different fields like pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications, as well as in food science and agro-chemistry. [1] de Campo L, Yaghmur A, Sagalowicz L, Watzke H, and Glatter O, Reversible Phase Transition in Emulsified Nano-Structured Lipid Systems. Langmuir. 2004; 20: 5254–5261. doi:10.1021/la0499416 [2] Yaghmur A, de Campo L, Salentinig S, Sagalowicz L, Leser M, Glatter O. Emulsified microemulsions and oil-containing liquid crystalline phases. Langmuir. 2005; 21: 569–577. doi:10.1021/la0482711 [3] Yaghmur A, de Campo L, Salentinig S, Sagalowicz L, Leser M, Glatter O. Oil-loaded monolinolein- based particles with confined inverse discontinuous cubic structure (Fd3m). Langmuir. 2006; 22: 517– 521. doi:10.1021/la052109w [4] Moitzi Ch, Guillot S, Fritz G, Salentinig S, Glatter O, Phase Reorganisation in Self-Assembled Systems Through Interparticle Material Transfer. Adv Mater. 2007; 19, 1352-1358. doi:10.1002/adma.200601679 [5] Guillot S, Tomšič M, Sagalowicz L, Leser M E, Glatter O, Internally Self-Assembled Particles Entrapped in Thermosensitive Hydrogels. J Colloid Interface Sci. 2009; 330, 175–179. doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2008.10.065 [6] Tomšič M, Guillot S, Sagalowicz L, Leser M E, Glatter O, Internally Self-Assembled Thermoreversible Gelling Emulsions: ISAsomes in Methylcellulose, Kappa-Carrageenan, and Mixed Hydrogels. Langmuir. 2009; 25: 9525–9534. doi:10.1021/la900766c