Pluronic F‐127 gel preparation as an artificial skin in the treatment of third‐degree burns in pigs

Abstract

A blinded study was designed to provide qualitative and quantitative evaluation on the possible therapeutic benefits of the use of Pluronic Polyol F-127 as a substitute skin in standardized third-degree thermal burns. Three separate burns, approximately 1600 mm2, were induced on the shaved backs of young, anesthetized pigs. Each animal served as its own control. One burn site was left untreated while the other two sites were covered with coded preparations of the Pluronic F-127 gel with additives. Polaroid photographs with a fixed focal-length camera were taken of all burn sites for planimetry analysis. Biopsies taken confirmed that third-degree burns were achieved. The pigs were followed for 30 days. The rate of healing of third-degree thermal burns was significantly accelerated over control sites when treated with Pluronic Polyol F-127 plus propylene glycol. When the bacteriostatic agent Garamycin was also added, the rate of healing remained significantly better than untreated controls. With the addition of Piracetam, burn wound healing was actually retarded within 30 days, when applied topically. Thus, wound healing was both accelerated and retarded as a function of the particular Pluronic preparation used to treat specific burn sites. This experimental modulation of wound healing suggests that the non-ionic poloxamer, Pluronic F-127, can significantly enhance the rate of wound healing by some unknown mechanism, possibly by stimulation of epithelial growth factor (EGF).

Delivery of Flt3 ligand (Flt3L) using a poloxamer-based formulation increases biological activity in mice

“…PG is composed of Poloxamer-407 and HPMC and both components have been reported to have biological activity. The formulation of wound-care products in Poloxamer-407 has been reported to improve wound healing, 36,37 and the administration of Poloxamer-407 has been shown to improve healing processes after burn injuries. 38 In addition, methyl cellulose, a component of HPMC, has also been shown to stimulate hematopoiesis.…”

Thermoresponsive hydrogels in biomedical applications

“…Over the past years, these copolymers have been extensively used in applications such as drug and gene delivery [16], inhibition of tissue adhesion [51,52] and burn wound covering [53,54]. Newer advances in gene delivery are summarized elsewhere [55].…”

A High‐Performance Magnetic Resonance Imaging T2 Contrast Agent

“…The PF127 block copolymer is selected as a suitable candidate of surface modification because it is recognized as being highly biocompatible (approved by the Food and Drug Administration) [25,26] and has been used in experimental medicine and pharmaceutical sciences for a long period of time. [27][28][29][30] Labhasetwar and co-workers recently reported a novel magnetic drug-delivery system by incorporating PF127 and oleic acid with iron oxide nanoparticles prepared through the co-precipitation approach. [31,32] Unlike Labhasetwar's work, our assynthesized SPIONs are intrinsically coated with a layer of oleic acid.…”