Preformulation Studies on Freund's Incomplete Adjuvant Emulsion

Abstract

Freund's Incomplete Adjuvant (FIA), which is used in vaccine therapy, is a water-in-oil emulsion delivery system consisting of an aqueous internal phase containing an antigenic protein dispersed in an external phase containing a mixture of mannide monooleate and light mineral oil. Preformulation studies are reported in this investigation for FIA emulsion. The preformulation studies included the determination of the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the formulations investigated, the surface activity of mannide monooleate at the interface between the oil phase and the aqueous phase containing ovalbumin as the model antigenic protein, and the effect of ovalbumin on the surface activity at the interface. The influence of the concentration of mannide monooleate and/or ovalbumin on the interfacial tension between light mineral oil and either purified water or 0.9% w/v normal saline solution was measured by the DuNouy Ring Method at 25°C. The CMC was determined experimentally from the relationship between the concentration of the surface active agent in each formulation and the interfacial tension. The number of moles of the surface active agent per unit area at the interface (surface excess concentration) was calculated from the Gibbs' Adsorption equation. The results indicated that mannide monooleate was an effective surface active agent since the formulation containing only mannide monooleate provided the lowest magnitude of CMC. The presence of the surface active agent, mannide monooleate and/or ovalbumin, in the formulations studied reduced the interfacial tension between the two phases. The surface activity was influenced by the presence of an electrolyte (sodium chloride), a protein (ovalbumin), or mannide monooleate in the formulation. The presence of antigenic proteins in the aqueous phase of a water-in-oil emulsion influenced the effectiveness of a surface active agent in the formulation.