Gel Textural Characteristics of Hair Gel with Cocoa Shell Extract by Using Mixture D-optimal Method

This study was used a mixture design to optimize the spreadability and viscosity of topical hair gel incorporates cocoa shell extract. The factor of the hair gel ingredient was thickener (0.2 – 0.8%), styling polymer A (2-5%), styling polymer B (2-6%), and solvent (84.63-91.63%) were studied on two responses selected spreadability and viscosity. The data collected were fitted to the model with high coefficient determination (R2= 0.994 for the spreadability and 0.9937 for the viscosity). The model can be predicted by showing the good lack of fit test result not significant with the p-value bigger than 0.05. From the ramp function simulation, the optimized formulation was selected and established at thickener (0.55%), styling polymer A (3.61%), styling polymer B (3.72%), and solvent (88.55%) with the spreadability and viscosity at 353.77 g.s and 39.91 pa.s respectively. The benefit of using mixture design in this experiment, it can help a formulator to understand the complex interaction between factors and can easily modify the formulation through ramp function simulation to obtain the desired result. The predicted validation test shows that both values were comparable. Under this condition showed that the model development could be used to predict future observations within the design range thickener (0.2 – 0.8%), styling polymer A (2-5%), styling polymer B (2-6%), and solvent (84.63-91.63%).

Optimized Antibacterial Effects in a Designed Mixture of Essential Oils of Myrtus communis, Artemisia herba-alba and Thymus serpyllum for Wide Range of Applications

Nowadays, the combination of molecules influences their biological effects, and interesting outcomes can be obtained from different component interactions. Using a mixture design method, this research seeks to simulate the efficacy of essential oil combinations against various bacteria and forecast the ideal combination. The chemical compositions of Myrtus communis, Artemisia herba-alba and Thymus serpyllum essential oils were analyzed using CG/MS. Then, the combined antibacterial effects were evaluated by testing mixture design formulations using the microdilution bioassay. The main compounds detected for M. communis essential oil were myrtenyl acetate (33.67%), linalool (19.77%) and 1,8-cineole (10.65%). A. herba-alba had piperitone as a chemotype, representing 85%. By contrast, the T. serpyllum oil contained thymol (17.29%), γ-terpinene (18.31%) and p-cymene (36.15%). The antibacterial effect of the essential oils studied, and the optimum mixtures obtained were target strain-dependent. T. serpyllum alone ensured the optimal inhibition against S. aureus and E. coli, while a ternary mixture consisting of 17.1%, 39.6% and 43.1% of M. communis, A. herba-alba and T. serpyllum respectively, was associated with optimal inhibitory activity against B. subtilis. The outcome of this research supports the idea of the boosting effect of essential oil combinations toward better activities, giving better understanding of the usefulness of mixture designs for food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical applications.

A Customized Screening Tool Approach for the Development of a Self-Nanoemulsifying Drug Delivery System (SNEDDS)

The present study focused on establishing a novel, (pre-)screening approach that enables the development of promising performing self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery systems (SNEDDSs) with a limited number of experiments. The strategic approach was based on first identifying appropriate excipients (oils/lipids, surfactants, and co-solvents) providing a high saturation solubility for lipophilic model compounds with poor aqueous solubility. Excipients meeting these requirements were selected for SNEDDS development, and a special triangular mixture design was applied for determining excipient ratios for the SNEDDS formulations. Celecoxib and fenofibrate were used as model drugs. Formulations were studied applying a specific combination of in vitro characterization methods. Specifications for a promising SNEDDS formulation were self-imposed: a very small droplet size (< 50 nm), a narrow size distribution of these droplets (PDI < 0.15) and a high transmittance following SNEDDS dispersion in water (> 99% in comparison with purified water). Excipients that provided a nanoemulsion after dispersion were combined, and ratios were optimized using a customized mapping method in a triangular mixture design. The best performing formulations were finally studied for their in vitro release performance. Results of the study demonstrate the efficiency of the customized screening tool approach. Since it enables successful SNEDDS development in a short time with manageable resources, this novel screening tool approach could play an important role in future SNEDDS development.