Study the Effect of some Physical Parameters on the Diffusion Properties of Prepared Alginate-Chitosan Capsule

Colloid hydrogel spherical core of alginate-chitosan capsules which is used to surround a bovine serum albumin were prepared using coacervation method. The effective physical parameters on porosity or permeability of chitosan-alginate polyions membrane were determined by the manipulation of solution conditions such as pH, ionic strength, and polymer concentration of chitosan. Different pH (3.9, 4.9, 5.9) and different concentrations of chitosan (0.1 g, 0.2 g, 0.3 g) as well as with and without NaCl (0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 %) were used to study the release of bovine serum albumin (BSA, molecular weight= 69,000) in vitro from the capsule prepared from alginate-chitosan blended polymer. The overall diffusion of BSA through the chitosan capsule membrane increased as the pH increased from 3.9 to 5.9. Also, an increase in the concentration of NaCl in the chitosan solution used in the preparation of capsule caused an increase in the diffusion of the protein. In contrast, an increase in the concentration of chitosan solution from 0.1g to 0.3g caused a decrease in diffusion of the proteins.