title: Enhancement of solute release from alginate scaffold with embedded sub-millimeter voids.
abstract: Alginate scaffold has potential use in the controlled release of drugs, and as 3-D structure for the formation of tissue matrix. This article describes the solute release behavior of alginate scaffold that bears embedded voids of sub-millimeter dimensions. Nitrogen gas was bubbled in a fluidic arrangement to generate uniform and self-aligned bubbles in alginate, prior to the cross-linking by CaCl₂. The cross-linked gel was dried in a vacuum oven, and subsequently, soaked in Vitamin B12 solution. The dimensions of the voids immediately after the cross-linking of gel, and also after complete drying were obtained using a digital microscope and the scanning electron microscope, respectively. The porosity of the gel was measured gravimetrically. The release of Vitamin B12 in water on a shaker was studied. For comparison, the experiment was repeated with a scaffold that did not have any embedded void. The enhancements in uptake and release of Vitamin B12 due to the presence of voids are estimated in this article.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Chemical Engineering , Indian Institute of Technology , Kharagpur , 721302 , India .
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bal
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ganguly
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002138:Calibration; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D004337:Drug Carriers; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; D014805:Vitamin B 12