Figure 3: Effect of Viscosity Grade on Gel Mass Following Cross-Linking- Alginate gels were placed in a 0.1 M CaCl2 solution overnight at 4°C which cross-linked the polymer and caused a reduction in mass. The LV grade alginate shrank the least by 49.1 ± 1.8%. The MV and HV grade alginate gel mass reductions were not statistically dissimilar (p-value = 0.508) and were 72.3 ± 1.2%. Error bars are in S.E.M., n = 6.