Ethylene oxide's role as a reactive agent during sterilization: effects of polymer composition and device architecture.

Sterilization conditions need to be optimized to effectively neutralize the bioburden while using short exposure times for minimizing the changes in chemical composition, material properties and device architecture. Towards this goal, effects of ethylene oxide (EtO) exposure parameters such as time, temperature, humidity, and EtO concentration on the polymer properties were investigated by monitoring the changes in composition, and the morphology of different types of structures in a family of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-containing tyrosine-derived polycarbonates. EtO was found to esterify the carboxyl groups present in the desaminotyrosyl-tyrosine groups.

Predicting biomaterial property-dendritic cell phenotype relationships from the multivariate analysis of responses to polymethacrylates.

Dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in orchestrating the host responses to a wide variety of foreign antigens and are essential in maintaining immune tolerance. Distinct biomaterials have been shown to differentially affect the phenotype of DCs, which suggested that biomaterials may be used to modulate immune response toward the biologic component in combination products. The elucidation of biomaterial property-DC phenotype relationships is expected to inform rational design of immuno-modulatory biomaterials.