An appropriate and reliable sterilization technique is crucial for tissue engineering scaffolds. Skeletal muscle scaffolds are often fabricated using microfilaments of a wide variety of polymers. One method for sterilization is 25 kGy of gamma irradiation. In addition, sterilization through irradiation should administer a dose within a specific range. Radiation directly affects the chemical and mechanical properties of scaffolds. The accuracy and effects of irradiation are often not considered during sterilization procedures; however, these are important since they provide insight on whether the sterilization procedure is reliable and reproducible. This study focused on the chemical and mechanical characterization of 25 kGy gamma-irradiated scaffold. The accuracy and uncertainty of the irradiation procedure were also obtained. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analyses were performed to determine whether the crystallinity of the polymer changed after irradiation and whether gamma rays influenced its thermal properties. The tensile parameters of the microfilaments were analyzed by comparing irradiated and nonirradiated scaffolds to determine whether gamma radiation changed their elastic behavior. Dose distribution and uncertainty were recorded with several dosimeters. The results showed that the irradiation process slightly affected the mechanical parameters of the scaffold; however, it did not modify its crystallinity or thermal properties. The irradiation was uniform, since the measured uncertainty was low. The scaffold was pathogen-free after 7 days; this meant sterilization was achieved. These results indicated that gamma-sterilized scaffolds were a promising material for use as a skeletal muscle analog material for tissue-engineering applications because they can be sterilized with gamma rays without changing their chemical structure and mechanical properties. This study provided the dose distribution measurement and uncertainty calculations for the sterilization procedure.
El Laboratorio de Ingeniería de Tejidos (LAINTEC) del Centro de Investigación en Biotecnología (CIB) de la Escuela de Biología del Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica (TEC) nació en el 2005 con el objetivo de desarrollar terapias celulares para aplicaciones en medicina regenerativa. Actualmente, el LAINTEC aloja más de una decena de proyectos multidisciplinarios, realizados en colaboración con otros centros de investigación del TEC y con otras universidades a nivel nacional e internacional. Estas investigaciones se enfocan en el desarrollo y evaluación de implantes, biomateriales y terapias regenerativas de piel, músculo y hueso, incluyendo el aislamiento y caracterización de células madre mesenquimales de tejido adiposo. Además, se han establecido modelos celulares y tisulares para la evaluación del potencial bioactivo de distintos agentes con potenciales aplicaciones en biomedicina.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.