Formation and characterization of self-assembling fish oil microemulsions

The novel fish oil O/W microemulsion system is formed with food-acceptable components, Tween 80, ethyl oleate, fish oil and water. We studied the influence of fish oil proportion in the oil phase on the microemulsion regions. We investigated this system using the dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy; the rheological characteristics and release effect were also explored. The obtained results indicated that the particle sizes of spherical droplets in microemulsions depend significantly on the total oil phase content, varying from 5 to 198 nm. The rheological measurements showed that all studied microemulsions followed shear thinning behavior. Well-controlled release profile of the fish oil microemulsions was found in different dialyzate solutions.