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Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Biopolymers for Applications as Biomaterials

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Abstract

Biopolymers, including extracellular matrix proteins and polysaccharides, are used as substrates for cell culture and scaffolds in tissue engineering. Ionizing radiation, for example with gamma rays or electron beams, is used to sterilize materials and to modify the physical and chemical properties of materials. The principles of the effect of ionizing radiation on biopolymers are discussed in this review article. Among the types of ionizing radiation, gamma rays and electron beams are widely used to sterilize biomaterials and construct medical devices. Water molecules are split by irradiation with ionizing radiation to give hydrated electrons, proton radicals and hydroxyl radicals. These reactive molecular species react with polymer chains to provoke scission or crosslinking reactions. Both the scission and crosslinking of the polymer chains can occur, depending on the types of polymer and irradiation conditions. Sterilization of materials is necessary if they are used in medical devices and implants. The advantages and disadvantages of ionizing radiation in comparison with other methods of sterilization are also discussed. Irradiations with strong gamma rays on the three types of biopolymers—Type I collagen, wool keratin and alginate—are described as examples of biopolymers. Ionizing radiation is a very useful tool for sterilizing materials and constructing medical devices, but it is important that we know its merits and demerits, as well as the limitations, safety and risks, of its applications.

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to my colleagues at OMU and OPU, including Dr. Hideki Mori, Masakazu Furuta, Shuichi Okuda, Takao Kojima, Masahiko Bessho and other collaborators and students, for their contribution to studies on collagen, alginate and keratin described as examples in this article. I am sincerely grateful to Prof. Roger J. Narayan for giving me the opportunity to submit the manuscript.

Funding

Studies of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI 22K04847. Studies of collagen and alginate were supported by the Japan Food Chemical Research Foundation. Studies of keratin were supported by the Hoyu Science Foundation.

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  1. Cell/Tissue Engineering Research Group, Department of Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Osaka Metropolitan University, 1-2 Gakuen-Cho, Naka-Ku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8570, Japan

    Masayuki Hara

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Osaka Metropolitan University (OMU) was founded on April 1st, 2022 with the merging Osaka Prefecture University (OPU) and Osaka City University (OCU).

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Hara, M. Effects of Ionizing Radiation on Biopolymers for Applications as Biomaterials. Biomedical Materials & Devices 1, 587–604 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44174-022-00049-6

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