Trexler P C
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA.
Life Sci Space Res. 1964;2:433-9.
Several colonies of rats and mice have been reared totally free of viable microorganisms, some for over 10 years. A variety of other species including monkeys, dogs, sheep and swine have been maintained under the same conditions for shorter periods. This operation requires more precise control of microbic contamination than can be achieved by conventional techniques. The necessary control was realized by the use of apparatus termed "isolators". Obtaining sterility is a biological problem but its maintenance is an engineering problem. The gnotobiotic animal has been shown to be more sensitive to some microbic contamination than in vitro culture media. Apparently complex spacecraft cannot be sterilized effectively by postassembly treatment alone. Therefore, sterile subassemblies must be made as required with final assembly in a sterile environment to avoid trapping viable organisms. This can be accomplished within isolators since there appears to be no size limitations to the apparatus developed for biological and medical applications. Repairs and testing procedures under sterile conditions are possible with the isolator system. Fabrication of spacecraft within closed sterile isolators should present no major engineering problems provided all of the components are sterilizable.
已经饲养了几个完全没有活微生物的大鼠和小鼠群落，有些已经饲养了10多年。包括猴子、狗、羊和猪在内的多种其他物种也在相同条件下饲养了较短时间。这项操作需要比传统技术更精确地控制微生物污染。通过使用称为“隔离器”的设备实现了必要的控制。获得无菌状态是一个生物学问题，但其维持是一个工程问题。已证明无菌动物比体外培养基对某些微生物污染更敏感。显然，复杂的航天器仅通过组装后处理无法有效灭菌。因此，必须根据需要制造无菌子组件，并在无菌环境中进行最终组装，以避免捕获活生物体。这可以在隔离器内完成，因为为生物和医学应用开发的设备似乎没有尺寸限制。使用隔离器系统可以在无菌条件下进行维修和测试程序。如果所有部件都可灭菌，那么在封闭的无菌隔离器内制造航天器应该不会出现重大工程问题。
