Preparation and in vitro evaluation of simvastatin ethosome.

To prepare ethosome loading simvastatin,an orthogonal test was applied to optimize the prescriptions, and the qualities of simvastatin ethosome were characterized by the shape, particle size, encapsulation efficiency (EE), and stability. The formation of 40% (v/v) ethanol, 0.02% (m/v) cholesterol, 2.0% (m/v) soy lecithin, and 5% (m/v) polyoxyethylene hydrogenated castor oil showed the maximal EE (69.3%). We observed the shape of simvastatin ethosome through TEM. The average size of the particles was 52.4 ± 3.24 nm, which was detected by a N5 submicron particle size analyzer. After 120 days storage in 4? and at room temperature, the simvastatin ethosome had no significant change.