Nanovesicles composed of Gemini-type amphiphile and glycolipid biosurfactant for skin permeation of Dendrobium officinale oligosaccharides

Mannose erythritol lipid (MEL-B) lamellar vesicles are promising biocompatible carriers for skincare, but their tendency to form unstable, micron-sized vesicles when used alone limits their application. Herein, we introduce the Gemini surfactant sodium dilauramidoglutamide lysine (DLGL) to overcome this limitation. Highly stable MEL-B-based unilamellar nanovesicles (< 100 nm) are formulated with DLGL. At an optimal DLGL/MEL-B ratio of 0.2, the binary vesicles exhibit excellent stability, showing negligible size variation (< 3 nm) across different storage temperatures and maintaining a zeta potential absolute value consistently above 30 mV. These vesicles significantly enhance the skin permeation of hydrophilic Dendrobium officinale oligosaccharides (DOOS), achieving twice the cumulative permeation compared to the pure DOOS solution at 8 h. Moreover, the formation of ternary vesicles by incorporating lecithin further enhance transdermal delivery.