How do I get sodium alginate beads from CaCl2 solution after coagulation? What is the best way to store such hydrogel beads for further experiments like swelling ration and adsorption capacity?
hi
How long it will remain stable, that will depend on the solution in which it is stored. We have prepared beads similarly and used them in the mammalian cell culture system for a total of 4 days. beads were intact and stable.
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While writing the literature review, I found a paper describing stability in different solutions such as PBS, it was stable max 6 weeks (paper fig 5). Check it, you may find something useful.
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Regards
Saurabh
If you put Na-Alginate into CaCl2 solution Ca-Alginate will be formed and precipitated.
Dear Dharma Raj Kandel,
Sodium alginate beads will be formed by injection of sodium alginate solution following the process you chose ( dropping, jet breaking, or any other process) into the CaCl2 solution (about 5-10g.L-1, a wide range of concentrations is possible). Then by collecting them directly from the CaCl2 solution.
Concerning beads stability, it depends on your definition of stability (network, spherical form, etc) I would say that Alginate beads are visually stable for weeks.
Regards,
You can think of Freeze-drying before the storage of these beads. generally, these beads absorb moisture from the atmosphere and swell. However, these beads remain intact for many days, don't degrade easily.
How much time is appropriate for freeze drying sir? Why am I asking this, previously I dried the sample for almost 5 days, many spherical beads were broken down.
It depends why you want to store them and how long you want to store them. you can store them simply in water. you can add CaCl2 in very concentration with some antimicrobial agent NaN3 (Toxic !). you can do vacuum drying, if you do freeze drying it will be crispy or floppy. you can also store them in sugar solution after sterilization. All depends on your objective.
You can consider reading this paper. It might help your.
- DOI:10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.119047