Acute tissue reactions to potassium alginate with and without colour/flavour additives

The acute tissue reactions to potassium alginate, locally applied to a microvascular bed, were studied with the use of the vital microscopic hamster cheek pouch model combined with correlative histology. This experimental model permitted us to study microvascular permeability, blood flow, vessel diameters and leucocyte adhesion to vessel walls intravitally, and leucocyte migration and mastcell degranulation histologically. Deionized water alone and potassium alginate with flavour and colour mixed in saline was found to cause severe microvascular alterations, while potassium alginate, without flavour and colour, but mixed in saline and applied to the microvasculature resulted in a minor inflammatory reaction.