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Updated: Jul 4, 2026

Correlative Optical Spectroscopy and Mass Spectrometry Imaging Methodology to Visualise Drug Distribution in a Soft Tissue Section
Published on: June 20, 2025
Effect of sodium diclofenac loads on mesophase components and structure
Rivka Efrat1, Deborah E Shalev, Roy E Hoffman
1Casali Institute of Applied Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem 91904, Israel.
Abstract:
We studied the effect of a model electrolytic drug on intermolecular interactions, conformational changes, and phase transitions in structured discontinuous cubic QL lyotropic liquid crystals. These changes were due to competition with hydration of the lipid headgroups. Structural changes of the phase induced by solubilization loads of sodium diclofenac (Na-DFC) were investigated by directly observing the water, ethanol, and Na-DFC components of the resulting phases using 2H and 23Na NMR. Na-DFC interacted with the surfactant glycerol monoolein (GMO) at the interface while interfering with the mesophase curvature and also competed with hydration of the surfactant headgroups. Increasing quantities of solubilized Na-DFC promoted phase transitions from cubic phase (discontinuous (QL) and bicontinuous (Q)) into lamellar structures and subsequently into a disordered lamellar phase. Quadrupolar coupling of deuterated ethanol by 2H NMR showed that it is located near the headgroups of the lipid and apparently is hydrogen bonded to the GMO headgroups. A phase transition between two lamellar phases (L alpha to L alpha*) was seen by 23Na NMR of Na-DFC at a concentration where the characteristics of the drug change from kosmotropic to chaotropic. These findings show that loads of solubilized drug may affect the structure of its vehicle and, as a result, its transport across skin-blood barriers. The structural changes of the mesophase may also aid controlled drug delivery.
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