of the solution. Drug Delivery Polyelectrolyte stabilized emulsions are important in the field of nanomedicine. In order to function properly, any drug delivery system must be biocompatible and biodegradable. Polyelectrolytes such as dextran sulfate (DSS), protamine (PRM) or poly-L-arginine all fulfill these requirements and may be used as a capsule with an emulsion inside. Oil in water emulsions are currently used as safe solvents for vaccines. It is important that these emulsion are stable and remain so for long periods of time. Polyelectrolyte stabilized emulsions could be used to increase the shelf life of vaccines. Researchers have been able to develop polyelectrolyte emulsions with more than six month stability. In addition to being stable for extended periods of time, polyelectrolytes may be useful for vaccines because they can be biodegradable. For example, the ester bonds of the polyelectrolyte poly(HPMA-DMAE) can undergo hydrolysis in the human body and VERO cells envelope DSS and use poly-L-arginine to break them down. Once the polylelectroyte capsule has been degraded, the emulsion containing drug is released into the body. Researchers have been investigating this drug delivery method to target leukemia cells. Food Technology Because polyelectrolytes may be biocompatible, it follows that they can be used to stabilize emulsion in foods. Several studies have focused on using polyelectrolytes to induce mixing of proteins and polysaccharides in oil-in-water emulsions. DSS has been successfully used to stabilize these types of emulsions. Other studies have focused on stabilizing oil-in-water emulsions using β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg), a globular protein, and pectin, an anionic polysaccharide. Both β-lactoglobulin and pectin are common ingredients in the food industry. β-lactoglobulin is used in whey protein, which can act as an emulsifier. References Chemical processes