Week 7: Testing and Data Analysis (Weekly Meeting)

This week outside of class we tested the hydrogels with the drug in them for the leaching rate. We first made the hydrogels by using the molds and creating a calcium chloride coating so the hydrogel would form. We then put the alginate with the drug mixed into it into the mold. Our final step was to put some calcium chloride on the exposed side of the hydrogel to seal the hydrogel shut. We repeated this procedure for each mold and then waited about 10 minutes for the hydrogel to settle in the mold. We then took the hydrogel out using a needle without actually popping the hydrogel and placed it in distilled water. We took samples after every hour but soon saw that the vitamin was not leaching out so changed the time interval to every 12 hours. We also tested a hydrogel that had the vitamin D in the middle of the hydrogel to see if it would leach out the drug differently.