Recent Developments in Lyotropic Liquid Crystals as Drug Delivery Vehicles - Self-Assembled Supramolecular Architectures: Lyotropic Liquid Crystals - page 248

increase in the strength of the hydrogen bonds as detected by FTIR is consid-
ered to be responsible for the more stable insulin secondary structure, which
is probably the reason for hampering the formation of fi brillar aggregates,
associated with several neurodegenerative diseases.
The results presented in this study provide valuable insights into the protec-
tion abilities and mechanism of the used colloid structures, containing co-
solvent as a medium for long-term protein stability. Moreover, these fi ndings
yield valuable information regarding the effect of confi nement of these colloid
structures on insulin fi brillation and/or aggregation.

8.7 SUMMARY

This chapter demonstrated that LC mesophases with complex architectures
were rationally designed and prepared for the solubilization and potential
administration of bioactive molecules. It was shown that comprehensive
understanding of the structural properties of the carriers is imperative for
rational and successful tailoring of delivery vehicles. The principal strategy was
to fi rst characterize the different levels of organization of these special materi-
als and then to explore the detailed relationships and possible correlations
between them, their structures, and the macroscopic properties.
The results lately obtained, although very interesting and promising,
defi nitely do not cover all the aspects and do not answer all the questions
addressed by the fascinating fi eld of lyotropic liquid crystals and their applica-
tions as drug delivery systems. Clearly, many additional experiments need to
be carried out in order to clarify the detailed structure, the exact properties,
and specifi c potential of these systems. We hope that we at least opened a new
window and provided new thoughts and interest into this rapidly growing fi eld
of research.

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