Fig 2.

HEC-based gels release significantly more zinc acetate than carrageenan-based gels. Carrageenan-based (A to G) and HEC-based (H to K) zinc acetate formulations (defined in Table 2) were examined for the release of zinc acetate at 37°C over a 24-h period (3 independent experiments per time point for each sample; mean values ± standard deviation [SD] are shown for each). The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare the zinc release from carrageenan- versus HEC-based gels, revealing that significantly more zinc was released from the HEC gels (P < 0.01).