Response surface method applied to optimization of estradiol permeation in chitosan membranes

The present work deals with the study of estradiol permeation in chitosan membranes. A fractional factorial design was built for the determination of the main factors affecting estradiol permeation. The independent factors analysed were: concentration of chitosan, concentration of cross-linking agent, cross-linking time and thermal treatment. It was found that concentration of chitosan and cross-linking time significantly affected the response. The effects of thermal treatment and concentration of cross-linking agent were not significant. An optimization process based on response surface methodology was carried out in order to develop a statistical model which describes the relationship between active independent variables and estradiol flux. This model can be used to find out a combination of factor levels during response optimization. Possible options for response optimization are to maximize, minimize or move towards a target value.