Aj. Fillerytravis et al., STABILITY OF EMULSIONS STABILIZED BY 2 PHYSIOLOGICAL SURFACTANTS - L-ALPHA-PHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE AND SODIUM TAUROCHOLATE, Biophysical chemistry, 54(3), 1995, pp. 253-260
The emulsion phase formed within the stomach and duodenum during diges
tion of a fatty meal has been modelled using two physiological surfact
ants, the phospholipid L-alpha-phosphatidylcholine (PC) and the bile s
alt sodium taurocholate (NaT). Upon dilution of the phospholipid stabi
lised emulsions with a solution of NaT the bile salt became incorporat
ed into the oil/water interface imparting a negative charge to the dro
plet surface. The magnitude of the droplet microelectrophoretic mobili
ty for the mixed PC and NaT system was 47% of that found for emulsion
droplets stabilised by NaT alone. But the electrostatic repulsion betw
een droplets was not sufficient to account for the observed improvemen
t in emulsion stability to coalescence. It is suggested that a residua
l liquid crystalline phospholipid interface is present imparting a sig
nificant steric component to the stabilisation of the emulsions drople
ts.