Compressed Carbon Dioxide for Decontamination of Biomaterials and Tissue Scaffolds

Biomaterials must be both sterile and free of contaminants prior to use, and this is particularly critical for the next generation of implants based on tissue engineering. With increasing complexity of tissue engineering scaffolds and multifunctional devices, there is a need for new approaches to decontamination, i.e. cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization. This work presents our recent results on several aspects of decontamination of both metallic and polymeric biomaterials using liquid and supercritical CO2 technology. We demonstrate the removal of a lubricant oil and E. coli endotoxins from titanium surfaces with compressed CO2. In another application, high level disinfection of a model hydrogel contaminated with S. aureus has been achieved with supercritical CO2. For sterilization, results are also presented on killing B. pumilus spores using supercritical CO2 containing trace levels of hydrogen peroxide.