Microbiological aspects relating to the choice of radiation sterilization dose

Ionizing radiation is widely used for sterilization of single-use medical devices, and it is employed for its lethal effect on microbial life. Microbes are capable of regenerating from a single surviving cell, and individual cells of some microbial species are highly resistant to the lethal effects of radiation. It is necessary to employ radiation doses far in excess of those lethal to man or animals to ensure that no viable microbe remains to repopulate the device or the patient at the time that the device is used. Ionizations induce the production of short-lived free radicals that also induce lethal changes in cells. The sensitivity of microbial species to these changes varies markedly but since the changes are induced within the cell, each cell has to sustain the necessary amount of lethal damage before death will occur. Therefore the death of cells will occur in the exponential mode the surviving fraction decreasing with increasing dose. Using a semi-logarithmic plot, curves of three types may be generated, a simple exponential curve with a constant slope over the whole dose range, one where an initial shoulder is followed by a constant slope, and curves which are concave, and only seen in mixed bacterial populations of differing radiation resistance. (author)