Fabrication of a uniformly sized fenofibrate microemulsion by membrane emulsification.

Fenofibrate-loaded microemulsions composed of Labrafil M 1944 CS, Capryol PGMC and fenofibrate as the dispersed phase and Labrasol in demineralised water as the continuous phase were prepared by utilising a Shirasu-porous-glass (SPG) membrane emulsification technique. The process parameters were optimised by adjusting the feed pressure (15-45 kPa), agitator speed (250-800 rpm) and temperature of the continuous phase (25-45°C). As a result, narrowly distributed microemulsions were obtained via SPG membrane emulsification at an agitator speed of 250 rpm, a feed pressure of 30 kPa and a continuous phase temperature of 25°C. Furthermore, TEM images clearly showed that the microemulsion prepared by SPG membrane emulsification had a uniform, spherical morphology with a narrow size distribution. Our results indicated that the SPG membrane emulsification technique is highly efficient for the preparation of narrowly distributed microemulsions with relatively smaller particle sizes compared with the common stirring method.