Kinetic investigation of a controlled drug delivery system based on alginate scaffold with embedded voids.

Alginate scaffold has been used widely for controlled release applications because of its ability to provide three-dimensional supports for formation of a gel matrix. Alginate gel scaffolds for drug delivery matrices were prepared using a fluidic device. N2 gas was used in the fluidic device to generate bubbles in the gel layer. The hydrogel matrices with induced voids were compared with hydrogel matrices without voids. This study attempted to identify the release mechanism of vitamin B12 from the two types of prepared scaffolds, and the data were fitted with different release kinetic models. The results revealed that the alginate scaffold exhibited a controlled release profile and that the corresponding release mechanism followed a first-order kinetic model. Hydrogel scaffolds fabricated with biocompatible polymers using fluidic methods could be promising for controlled drug delivery systems.