Medical Hydrology and Balneology: Environmental Aspects

An analysis of the behaviour of a mixture of the
algae fucus vesiculosus with bentonite for
therapeutic uses
Soto A (1) , Míguez E (1) , Martín C (1) , Fernández C (1) , Mourelle ML (1)
(1) Department of Applied Physics. Faculty of Science. University of Vigo Spain
sotofontanalicia@gmail.com
Introduction and Objectives
Fucus vesiculosus is a brownish algae belonging to the family Fucaceae which is
found in the Baltic Sea, and in the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Its properties are
derived from its composition, mainly from its iodised matter and sulphated polysaccharides
such as fucoids and alginates. It is used in therapeutic, pharmacological,
and cosmetic applications amongst others due to its antioxidant , anti-cancer, antidiabetes,
photoaging prevention , and anticoagulant properties, and because it
improves mechanical properties and aspect of skin .
The algae Fucus vesiculosus mixed with clay and seawater gives rise to a peloid
that can be used for thermotherapy and pelotherapy. This work focuses on studying
the properties of a mixture of Fucus vesiculosus and bentonite, and seawater, in
order to determine whether it can be used for treating cellulitis, an alteration which
affects skin at the epidermis, dermis, and hypodermis levels.
Materials and Methods
Algae studied belongs to the species Fucus vesiculosus, seawater was supplied
by Quinton Labs. and the bentonitic clay used was supplied by the Spanish company
“BENESA”.
The properties studied are density, specific heat and thermal conductivity.
The density has been obtained using a pycnometer. Hexane and tridistilled water
have been used as calibration liquids. The technique is described in Deeds and Van
Olphen (1961). The thermal conductivity was measured by a conductivimeter KD2
proThermal Properties Analyzer (Decagon Devices, Inc.), and the specific heat was
measured with a Calvet microcalorimeter
Results
The behaviour of specific heat, density and thermal conductivity of these mixtures
with temperature depends on the concentration of algae, seawater and clay.
Thus, the more concentrated samples exhibit also higher increase in specific heat
and thermal conductivity values with the temperature. The density decreases with
increasing temperature.
Balnea
2012, núm. 6, 321-322
321
ISBN: 978-84-669-1887-0
978-84-669-3482-4