I am trying to encapsulate bacteria in sodium alginate beads, but after about 1 day of storage in the fridge, they begin to disintegrate, and by 3 days the beads are completely gone. I grow the bacteria in Difco's marine broth (DMB) and make the beads using 0.1M CaCl2 and 3% sodium alginate, both in DMB. I having also been storing the beads in DMB, which should contain enough CaCl2 to continue the ion exchange and keep the beads intact. Does anyone know what could be going wrong?
good job, but try to increase CaCl2 concentration (from 0.3 to 0.6 M) it will be ok to obtain a good matrix. for gelation time, no need more than 60 min. make sure the pH value of your solution above 4.5 for gelation process. for storing the beads in solution, Alginate beads swell in medium around 6 +- 1. and shrinks in acidic medium.
Article Alginate Nanoformulation: Influence of Process and Selected Variables
try to check CaCl2 concentration effect
Hi can I ask how can you make it not shrink. I use 2% sodium alginate and 2%CaCl solution as well. In what solution should I store the beads to avoid shrinking. Since im ginna transport it for our testing and I'm quite nervous that it might shrink before ariving.
In what type of containers or packaging materials can I store the encapsulated alginate beads? Which is better, air drying the beads or storing in isotonic solutions?