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Updated: Aug 28, 2025

Self-Nanoemulsification of Healthy Oils to Enhance the Solubility of Lipophilic Drugs
Published on: July 27, 2022
Pharmacokinetics of a Single Intake of a Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System Containing the Triglyceride Form of
Mariko Hayashida1, Yuri Ishii1, Tomoki Adachi1
1Research Institute, FANCL Corporation, Yokohama, Japan.
Background:
The health benefits of n-3 (ω-3) PUFAs are well studied. A self-emulsifying drug delivery system (SEDDS) is expected to improve n-3 PUFA absorption.
Objectives:
The present study investigated how a single ingestion of a new SEDDS containing the triglyceride (TG) form of DHA (22:6n-3) (DHA/TG) would affect the plasma DHA concentration in healthy participants.
Methods:
Fifteen healthy participants (age: 20-65 y; BMI: 18.5-25 kg/m2) were enrolled in this randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Participants in a fasting state consumed a single dose of 920 mg DHA and 80 mg EPA (20:5n-3) in SEDDS soft capsules (SEDDS capsule) or non-emulsifying soft capsules (control capsule). Blood was sampled at 0, 1.5, 3, 5, 7, and 9 h after dosing. The primary outcome was the baseline-adjusted incremental AUC (iAUC) for plasma DHA concentrations (iAUC_DHA).
Results:
The iAUC_DHA was significantly higher for the SEDDS capsule (147.9 ± 15.8 µg·h/mL) than for the control capsule (106.4 ± 18.1 µg·h/mL) (P = 0.018; SEDDS/control ratio: 1.4:1). However, plasma EPA concentrations and iAUC values did not significantly differ between the SEDDS and control capsules. Cmax was significantly higher with the SEDDS capsule for both DHA (P = 0.019) and EPA (P = 0.012) than with the control capsule.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that a SEDDS improves the absorbability of DHA/TG in healthy participants. This indicates that SEDDS capsules would be beneficial for efficient ingestion of DHA.This trial was registered at https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/ as UMIN000044188.
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