Protein diffusion in alginate beads monitored by confocal microscopy. The application of wavelets for data reconstruction and analysis

A microscopic technique has been developed to obtain the protein profiles i nside calcium alginate gel. To do this, the diffusion of BSA, previously ma rked with FITC, inside calcium alginate beads was observed using confocal l aser microscopy, thus obtaining the spatio-temporal evolution of the protei n concentration. The technique, however, presents certain limitations and z ones where it is impossible to obtain experimental data. Wavelets analysis, commonly used in signal processing and statistics, was employed to reconst ruct and subsequently analyse the experimental results. Once the diffusion model was defined, the substrate profiles obtained were used to calculate a diffusivity value for BSA in alginate gel.