Sterilisation of collagen materials using hydrogen peroxide doted supercritical carbon dioxide and its effects on the materials properties

• Collagen medical products were sterilised by CO2sc/H2O2 compared with γ-irradiation.
• By CO2sc/H2O2 no visible effects on the materials structure were observed.
• Materials properties of CO2sc/H2O2 sterilised materials were hardly affected.
• γ-Irradiation impaired nativity and mechanical stability and increased solubility.

Collagen sponges and membranes which are used as medical device and in tissue engineering (TE) were sterilised by using supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2sc) which was doted with hydrogen peroxide (300 mg/L). Sterilisation was achieved by pressure change treatment (20.5–10 MPa). Neither physical nor structural and biological parameters of the materials were negatively affected. In contrast, sterilisation by gamma-irradiation led to increased solubility and decreased physical stability. As H2O2 is a common chemical used in collagen processing in industrial scale this could become a sterilisation technique for medical devices and TE materials on collagen basis.

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