Peptide amphiphiles (PAs) self-assemble into supramolecular nanofiber gels that provide a suitable environment for encapsulation of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic molecules. The PA gels have significant advantages for controlled delivery applications due to their high capacity to retain water, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. In this study, we demonstrate injectable supramolecular PA n...

Intravaginal insertion is often associated with the concept of 'dry' sex. All HIV-prevention microbicides tested to date have been vaginally applied lubricant-based gels. In this paper, we examine whether the use of intravaginal insertions could be in conflict with the introduction of vaginal microbicide gels. The Africa Centre site was part of the Microbicides Development Programme evaluating ...

The aim of the present study was to evaluate chitosan as a vaginal mucoadhesive gel base for econazole nitrate and miconazole nitrate. To this aim, different types of chitosan with different molecular masses and viscosity properties [low molecular mass chitosan (viscosity: 20,000 mPa s), medium molecular mass chitosan (viscosity: 200,000 mPa s), high molecular mass chitosan (viscosity: 800,000 ...

A new agarose-based protein electrophoresis gel system is described. The system consists of a highly resolving agarose, MetaPhor XR (FMC BioProducts, Rockland, ME, USA) dissolved in urea and TBE buffer and a stacking gel composed of a high gel-strength agarose, SeaKem Gold (FMC BioProducts). TBE containing sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is used as electrophoresis buffer. The disadvantages of trad...

Solutions and gels of the filamentous protein F-actin have not only been the subject of numerous recent biophysical studies, but have also proven to be quite fruitful model systems for fundamental polymer science. They are particularly good models of ‘semiflexible’ polymers, because they have an enormous ratio of persistence length to molecular diameter with characteristic mesh sizes of the ord...

This paper is focused on the question of simulation and visualization of 3D gel and paste dynamic effects. In a first part, we introduce a 3D physically based particle (or mass-interaction) model, with a small number of masses and few powerful interaction parameters, which is able to generate the dynamic features of both gels and pastes. This model proves that the 3D mass-interaction method is ...

Responsive supramolecular gels were constructed from crown ether terminated four-arm star poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL-DB24C8) and dibenzylammonium-terminated two-arm PCL-DBAS (see scheme), exploiting the formation of pseudorotaxane linkages between crown ether and ammonium moieties. The resultant supramolecular gels exhibit thermo- and pH-induced reversible gel-sol transition.

A fundamental study of the stability of hydrogen peroxide-based gels, thickened using cross-linked polyacrylic acid polymers, will be presented. Recent systematic experiments will demonstrate that excellent long-term stability of such gels can be achieved. The study evaluates different types of crosslinked polyacrylic acid polymers (as well as an associative acrylic polymer), several commercial...