Bone allografts are the preferred method for bone augmentation in over 500,000 orthopedic surgical procedures in the US. Sterilization by ionizing radiation is the most effective method of minimizing the bioburden of bone allografts; however, radiation causes chain scission of collagen, resulting in the reduction of the allografts’ mechanical strength. In this study, we doped bone allografts with vitamin E as radioprotectant using a novel two‐step process to protect the collagen architecture against radiation damage and to preserve the mechanical strength of the construct. In addition, combining the radioprotectant with a cross‐linking agent further minimized collagen degradation and further preserved the mechanical strength of the allografts. Both vitamin E and combined vitamin E/genipin‐treated allograft were less cytotoxic to both osteoblasts and osteoclasts when compared to irradiated‐only allografts. Host bone‐allograft unionization was faster in a rat calvaria defect model with vitamin E‐treated and combined vitamin E and genipin‐treated allograft when compare to irradiated‐only allografts. This method can enable the efficient and uniform radioprotective treatment of bone allograft of desired shapes for sterilization with improved mechanical strength and biointegration.

中文翻译：

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维生素 E 存在下同种异体骨的辐射防护和交联。

在美国超过 500,000 例骨科手术中，同种异体骨移植是骨增强的首选方法。电离辐射灭菌是减少同种异体骨生物负荷的最有效方法；然而，辐射会导致胶原蛋白链断裂，导致同种异体移植物的机械强度降低。在这项研究中，我们使用一种新的两步法在同种异体骨移植物中掺杂了维生素 E 作为辐射防护剂，以保护胶原结构免受辐射损伤并保持结构的机械强度。此外，将辐射防护剂与交联剂相结合进一步减少了胶原蛋白的降解，并进一步保持了同种异体移植物的机械强度。与仅辐照的同种异体移植物相比，维生素 E 和维生素 E/京尼平联合处理的同种异体移植物对成骨细胞和破骨细胞的细胞毒性均较低。与仅经辐照的同种异体移植物相比，在使用维生素 E 处理和组合的维生素 E 和京尼平处理的同种异体移植物的大鼠颅盖缺损模型中，宿主骨与同种异体移植物的结合更快。这种方法可以对所需形状的同种异体骨移植物进行有效和均匀的辐射防护处理，以提高机械强度和生物整合性。