Electrically conductive and antimicrobial Pluronic-based hydrogels.

Electrically conductive hydrogels (ECHs) combine the electrical properties of conductive materials with the unique features of hydrogels. They are attractive for various biomedical applications due to their smart response to electrical fields. Owing to their distinctive properties, such as biocompatibility, thermosensitivity and self-assembling behaviour, Pluronics can be adopted for the generation of hydrogels for biomedical applications.

Pluronic F68 Micelles as Carriers for an Anti-Inflammatory Drug: A Rheological and Scattering Investigation.

Age-long ambition of medical scientists has always been advancement in healthcare and therapeutic medicine. Biomedical research indeed claims paramount importance in nanomedicine and drug delivery, and the development of biocompatible storage structures for delivering drugs stands at the heart of emerging scientific works. The delivery of drugs into the human body is nevertheless a nontrivial and challenging task, and it is often addressed by using amphiphilic compounds as nanosized delivery vehicles.

Phase transitions of aqueous solutions of Pluronic F68 in the presence of Diclofenac Sodium.

In recent years, advancements in bioengineering and materials science have witnessed increasing interest in synthetic polymers capable of fulfilling various applications. Owing to their distinctive properties, Pluronics can be used as nano-drug carriers, to deliver poorly water-soluble drugs, and as model systems to study colloidal science by tuning amphiphilic properties. In this work, we investigated the effect of diclofenac sodium on the self-assembly and thermoresponsive crystallization of Pluronic F68 in water solutions, by employing experimental rheology and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

Bubble Rupture and Bursting Velocity of Complex Fluids.

We analyzed bubble rupture and hole opening dynamics in a non-Newtonian fluid by investigating the retraction process of thin films after inflation at different blowing rates. The experiments were modeled through a dimensional analysis, with the aim of establishing a general approach on the bubble rupture dynamics and discerning the role of viscous, elastic, surface, and inertial forces on the opening velocity, according to the nature of the specific fluid. A new mathematical model, which includes all possible contributions to the hole opening dynamics, was proposed, to the best of our knowledge for the first time.