Skin barrier dysfunction and oxidative stress caused by aging and UV exposure often result in pigmentation and photoaging, necessitating safe and effective topical delivery systems. However, co-delivering hydrophilic and lipophilic bioactives remains challenging due to their divergent solubility and stability profiles. To address this, we developed a W/O/W multiple emulsion stabilized by biopolymer-based nanoparticles for the synergistic transdermal delivery of arbutin and resveratrol. Phosphorylated zein, an amphiphilic plant protein, was combined with carboxymethyl chitosan to form composite colloidal particles that encapsulated resveratrol and acted as natural Pickering stabilizers at the O/W interface. This system successfully encapsulated arbutin in the internal aqueous phase and resveratrol in the zein-based composite colloidal particles. The resulting emulsions exhibited high arbutin encapsulation efficiency (up to 94.76%), strong antioxidant activity (DPPH scavenging >82% at 45 mg/mL), and sustained tyrosinase inhibition (>75% after 14 days). Skin permeation studies revealed enhanced transdermal delivery, with fluorescent probe penetration depth reaching ∼4861 μm. This work demonstrates the potential of zein-based biopolymer systems in building multifunctional emulsions for safe, efficient, and synergistic delivery of active ingredients in skincare applications.
Liu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.