SAL 10^-6 and Cytotoxicity of Sanitary Aid Products Utilizing Gamma Sterilization Technology

감마선 멸균기술을 이용한 의약외품의 무균보증수준(SAL 10^-6) 확보 및 세포독성 평가

The sterilization of health care products is widely used to choose conventional Ethylene Oxide gas sterilization in South Korea. But the method has brought serious issues because of the toxic residual gas and global warming of $CO_2$ evacuation after the sterilization process. This study is carried out to confirm the application possibility of gamma sterilization instead of Ethylene Oxide in sanitary aid products. Four kinds of products (gauze, menstrual pad, bandage, menstrual tampon) were treated with gamma irradiation of 15 kGy, then analyzed the achievement of the sterility assurance level (SAL) $10^{-6}$ through BI test. The cytotoxicity of accelerated samples of 6 months elapse evaluated by means of colony forming rate at various concentration of the extracts. pH and UV measurements at extract concentrations were tested according to the MFDS (Ministry of food & drug safety) guideline to verify a stability & safety of product sterilized. The results revealed that the extracts did not show any significant changes in cytoxicity assay as well as pH and UV values by gamma sterilization. All extract concentration was observed high cell viability, pH and UV values were calculated within the acceptable range prescribed by the guideline. It indicates that gamma sterilization could effectively substitute for conventional sterilization such as Ethylene Oxide sterilization in the sanitary aid products.