Bovine serum albumin (BSA) bidirectional permeability of calcium alginate-chitosan microcapsules was investigated by quantitative and qualitative researches. The effects of composition of the microcapsules and concentrations of alginate and chitosan were studied. The results show that BSA permeability of the microcapsules decreases when pH is 1.5 to 2.0, whereas increases when pH is 6.8. Permeability of the calcium alginate microcapsules is better than that of the calcium alginate-chitosan microcapsules, and for the calcium alginate-chitosan microcapsules the lower the concentration of chitosan is, the higher the permeability is. The effect of concentration of alginate is not obvious.

Key words: calcium alginate-chitosan, microcapsule, bovine serum albumin (BSA), bidirectional, permeability