Detergency of stainless steel surface soiled with human brain homogenate: an XPS study

• Published in: Applied surface science 2005-02, Vol.240 (1), p.204-213
• Main Authors: Richard, M., Le Mogne, Th, Perret-Liaudet, A., Rauwel, G., Criquelion, J., De Barros, M.I., Cêtre, J.C., Martin, J.M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Detergency; Exact sciences and technology; Human brain homogenate; Materials science; Medical device; Metals. Metallurgy; Physics; Proteins; Stainless steel; Surface cleaning, etching, patterning; Surface treatments; XPS
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2004.06.090

In the detergency field of re-usable medical devices, a special attention is focused on the non conventional transmissible agent called prions which is a proteinaceous infectious agent. Few cleaning procedures are effective against prions and few techniques are available to study cleaning effectiveness with respect to proteins in general. In our study, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been used to evaluate the effectiveness of detergent formulations to remove proteins from stainless steel surface soiled with a brain homogenate (BH) from human origin. Our results showed that XPS is a reliable surface analysis technique to study chemical species remaining on surface and substrate properties after cleaning procedures. A semi-quantitative evaluation of the detergency effectiveness could also be performed.