▼This material page is not currently linked to any simulator in TissueDB.
No verified simulator uses this material. This page is under review and may be updated, redirected, or removed. If you know of a simulator that uses it, please update the relevant simulator page.
▼Proposed material swap — pending pilot validation.
This material has been proposed as a substitute for Gelatin, but has not yet been validated by a pilot. It will be recorded as an official material swap once a pilot is run and a TissueDB Developer confirms it. Until then, treat this substitution as provisional.
▼This page has been proposed for deletion. Reason: No simulator uses carrageenan.
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It documents the tissue applications, practical guidance, and related simulators for this material to support low-cost, reproducible surgical simulator development.
Hand-drawn chemical structure of iota-carrageenan, one of the gelling polysaccharides extracted from red seaweed. Image: public domain by BQUB1819-GFratt, via Wikimedia Commons. License: Public domain by BQUB1819-GFratt
Carrageenan (also known as kappa-carrageenan, iota-carrageenan, E407) is a natural polysaccharide extracted from red seaweed (Rhodophyta family). It comes as a fine white to beige powder. Kappa-type carrageenan forms rigid, brittle gels. Iota-type forms softer, more elastic gels.[1] Gel strength rises with carrageenan concentration and depends strongly on which ions are present: potassium stabilises the gel network most effectively, while calcium and barium reinforce it less selectively and sodium gives more brittle gels.[1] The powder is chemically stable at room temperature. In medical simulation it can form gel-based tissue phantoms: the one source on file built a tissue-equivalent MRI phantom on a carrageenan gel held at 3%, using GdCl₃ as a T1 modifier and agarose as a T2 modifier.[2]
↑ 1.01.1Russo Spena S, Grizzuti N. κ-Carrageenan and its synergistic blends: next-generation food gels. Gels 2025;11(12):976. DOI: 10.3390/gels11120976. PMID 41441132.
↑ 2.02.1Yoshimura K, Kato H, Kuroda M, Yoshida A, Hanamoto K, Tanaka A, Tsunoda M, Kanazawa S, Shibuya K, Kawasaki S, Hiraki Y. Development of a tissue-equivalent MRI phantom using carrageenan gel. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2003;50(5):1011–1017. DOI: 10.1002/mrm.10619. PMID 14587012.
