Skip to main content

Week Three Progress

During Week Three, we discussed and determined our therapeutic agent for the hydrogel module. After extensive research and comparison of our options, we decided the best-suited therapeutic would be zinc oxide. This substance fits our design so well because it is hydrophobic and will slowly disperse through the pores in the bottom hydrogel layer. Zinc oxide has been used in past hydrogel models and has been proven to be effective. It is an agent that has been used in ointments and supplements to treat burns and prevent infections. Likewise, the possibility of overdosing on zinc-oxide necessitates a solution for controlled therapeutic release. The predominant delivery system for zinc oxide is through medicinal cream, the delivery through which enables the therapeutic threshold of zinc oxide to be increased to levels of high toxicity. Symptoms of zinc-oxide overdose include: fever, chills, vomiting, mouth irritation, stomach pain, and yellowing of the eyes and skin. Consequently, the pharmaceutical market will benefit from a medicinal product which controls the release of zinc oxide, releasing ideal concentrations between 10 to 30 milligrams. As such, based upon the research that we have collected, zinc oxide is the apparent choice of our therapeutic agent.

This was also our first week of experimentation with the hydrogels. All of our equipment arrived including: rubber mold, two glass beakers, food coloring, pipettes, calcium chloride, and sodium alginate. Figure 1 depicts the equipment used in our initial experiments. Our first trial produced a viscous version of the hydrogels, which was not what we had intended to create. In this next week, we plan on using more accurate measurements to ensure the hydrogel comes out with the consistency that we require for our design.



Figure 1: Supplies

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week Nine Progress

The progress underwent during week nine of the hydrogel restructuring module entailed rectifying the errors made during the first and second testing rounds conducted during week seven. The results of first and second testing trials revealed egregious errors upon obtaining the results of the spectrophotometry of week eight. The spectrophotometry results delineated a consistent decrease in fluorescent intensity over time. Nonetheless, an ideal graph would illustrate a sustained increase in fluorescent intensity, thereby paralleling an increase in the percentage of therapeutic that is released. The increase in fluorescent intensity which had resulted from the week seven testing may be attributed to the experimental errors which occurred during the construction of hydrogel samples, and are described in full detail in the Week Eight Progress Report.  During week nine, new hydrogel samples were generated in a comparable fashion to the construction of samples during the second phase of t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Week Eight Progress

During the eighth week of the hydrogel restructuring module, testing trials were conducted to determine the therapeutic release rates of variant hydrogel densities, including sample of: high-density, low-density, intermediate-density, and a layered sample of both high and low densities. The testing of the hydrogel layers was conducted by the injection of the fluorescent signal protein, FITC-BSA, within each sample. The hydrogel samples containing FITC-BSA were constructed at three-six hour intervals, then tested concurrently through the spectrophotometer. The testing phase was completed twice during week eight. During the first testing phase, the employment of tap water in the construction of the samples had produced hydrogel samples that were not uniform in consistency. As such, a second trial was conducted in which pure water was utilized to account for the mistakes of the first testing phase. The second trial proceeded to the spectrophotometer phase of testing. The results of the s...
Post a Comment
Read more