Controlled delivery of lipophilic agents to cell cultures for in vitro toxicity and biocompatibility assays

Int J Cosmet Sci. 2000 Aug;22(4):265-70. doi: 10.1046/j.1467-2494.2000.00026.x.

Abstract

In this report, we present a novel method for delivering lipophilic compounds to cell cultures. The delivery system is based on a nanoemulsion stabilized by phospholipids. These nanoemulsions are well tolerated by cell cultures, such as TK6 lymphoblastoid cells and can be used to deliver defined amounts of encapsulated lipophilic compounds into cells. We measured the growth inhibition of TK6 lymphoblastoid cells caused by different oils, UV-filters and fragrances to determine the biocompatibility or the toxicity of these compounds in simple cell culture experiments. Our data show that the applied nanoemulsion technology is also very suitable to study biological effects of the UV-A-irradiated compounds in cell culture assays.