Preparation and swelling Behaviour of calcium-alginate and calcium alginate- chitosan hydrogel beads

Abstract

Hydrogels are three-dimensional crosslinked polymeric structures that are able to swell in an aqueous environment. Use of the natural polymer, sodium alginate, as the scaffold material in hydrogels has been highly pursued thanks to the polymer's biocompatibility, Sodium alginate (SA), which is a naturally occurring non-toxic polysaccharide found in marine brown algae, is one of the polysaccharides employed to fabricat small hydrogel beads. The reinforcement of alginate beads has been done by incorporating polymers, such as chitosan. These beads can be prepared using an ionotropic gelation method. In this research The swelling ability of the calcium alginate and chitosan treated calcium alginate beads in solutions with different pH value were investigated. They exhibited significant swelling rates when exposed to the slightly alkaline environment. Thus, these beads are good candidate to be studied as a polymeric carrier for drug delivery in the intestinal tract.