DEVIATION FROM MOLECULAR-DIFFUSION AGING MODEL IN FLUOROCARBON EMULSIONS STABILIZED BY PERFLUOROALKYLATED SURFACTANTS

The adjunction of a perfluoroalkylated polyhydroxylated surfactant to F-decalin/Pluronic F-68 emulsions stabilizes these emulsions dramatically. Moreover, it is found that the increase in droplet volume over time is no longer linear as when Pluronic F-68 is used as the sole surfactant, the deviation being in the direction of a lower increase rate, i.e., in the direction of an increase of the stabilization effect over time. These observations could have a considerable impact on the development of fluorocarbon emulsions for therapeutic uses. They raise the question of the validity of existing theoretical treatments of molecular diffusion and also of whether molecular diffusion can still be invoked as being the principal cause of aging when such fluorinated surfactants are present. © 1990.