Plinston C, Fernie K, Prior F G R, Smith R
Institute for Animal Health, Neuropathogenesis Unit, Edinburgh, UK.
J Hosp Infect. 2007 May;66(1):52-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2007.01.015. Epub 2007 Apr 11.
Iatrogenic transmission of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) has been demonstrated via surgical instruments and there is concern over the efficacy of conventional decontamination techniques used to reprocess reusable instruments. This paper describes the development of a novel cleaning method, 'electro-elution', to remove TSE disease-specific abnormal protein PrP(Sc) from the surface of stainless steel surgical instruments. The electro-elution process subjects the stainless steel instrument to an electrical current in the presence of an electrolytic buffer to remove protein deposits. Stainless steel discs were contaminated with infectious brain homogenate and subjected to a range of conditions to determine the ability of electro-elution to remove the deposits. To determine whether there was any residual PrP(Sc) remaining on the disc after electro-elution, a novel detection method, 'direct blotting', was also developed. Direct blotting utilizes a process of passive transfer of proteins directly from the surface of the instrument to a proteophilic membrane for detection. Our study shows that electro-elution has the ability to effectively remove, and possibly degrade, disease-associated PrP(Sc) from the surface of stainless steel surgical instruments.
可传播性海绵状脑病（TSEs）的医源性传播已通过手术器械得到证实，人们对用于重新处理可重复使用器械的传统去污技术的有效性表示担忧。本文描述了一种新型清洁方法——“电洗脱”的开发，该方法用于从不锈钢手术器械表面去除TSE疾病特异性异常蛋白PrP(Sc)。电洗脱过程是在电解缓冲液存在的情况下，让不锈钢器械通过电流以去除蛋白质沉积物。用感染性脑匀浆污染不锈钢圆盘，并使其经受一系列条件，以确定电洗脱去除沉积物的能力。为了确定电洗脱后圆盘上是否仍有残留的PrP(Sc)，还开发了一种新型检测方法——“直接印迹法”。直接印迹法利用蛋白质从器械表面直接被动转移到亲蛋白膜上进行检测的过程。我们的研究表明，电洗脱能够有效去除并可能降解不锈钢手术器械表面与疾病相关的PrP(Sc)。
