Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Sterilization Minimally Affects Human Allograft Skin Morphology and Biomechanics

Skin-based products are currently used to treat numerous acute and chronic injuries. Allograft skin typically used for burn treatment is recovered aseptically and either cryopreserved or provided fresh shortly after procurement in order to maintain viability for engraftment. Such skin is also further processed in a variety of ways, including decellularization and lyophilization, to create biologic dressings and skin substitutes. Although allograft skin is vigorously screened and disinfected to prevent pathogen transmission it is seldom terminally sterilized, which may be of concern when it is used for patients who are immunocompromised. Thus, the overall goal of this work is to develop a sterile, skin-based biomaterial for potential use as a matrix for tissue regeneration.