Abstract
This study was to determine the microbiological safety and tensile strength of gammairradiated porcine tendon for the development of safe xenografts. Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis were used as model pathogens and inoculated as $10^6{\sim}10^7log$ colonies forming unit $(CFU)g^{-1}$. As model virus from porcine, porcine parvovirus (PPV), bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) and poliovirus were inoculated as $10^5{\sim}10^6$ tissue culture infectious dose $(TCID)_{50}g^{-1}$ into porcine skin. The $D_{10}$ value of E. coli and B. subtilis was measured as $0.32{\pm}0.082kGy$ and $4.0{\pm}0.312kGy$, respectively. Additionally, the $D_{10}$ values of PPV, BVDV and poliovirus were also shown as $1.75{\pm}0.131kGy$, $3.70{\pm}0.212kGy$ and $6.26{\pm}0.332kGy$, respectively. Gamma irradiation decreased the tensile strength of porcine tendon. Results indicate that microbiological safety of porcine tendon can be improved significantly by gamma irradiation. However, further studies are needed to improve the tensile strength of gamma-irradiated porcine tendon.