Table 2 shows the cell viability obtained for free and immobilized yeast systems and total initial cells for each yeast loading respectively.
The cells viability results to be 77% in all the experiences. It is noteworthy that the polymerization conditions seems not to affect the immobilized yeast cells viability, even that a strong oxidant(persulfate ion) and free radicals are present. On the other hand, this behavior simplifies greatly the immobilization of the yeast cells,compared with alternative procedures . Onceobtained the immobilized yeast, the maintenance of high levels of living cells could be attributed to the protective effect of the hydrogel matrix. It could be observed by optical microscopy, thatcells are randomly disposed over the gel surface and mainly formingcolonies