Are you testing your medical devices with endotoxin-free pipette tips?
Endotoxins can be a risk to patient safety. It is important to prevent patient exposure to endotoxins, as even a low endotoxin concentration in the bloodstream can produce inflammation in the human body and in severe cases, septic shock.
To prevent patient exposure to endotoxins, frequent and reliable testing for endotoxin levels on medical devices is required. Inactivation and destabilization of endotoxins is difficult because they have high heat tolerance and the ability to tolerate extreme pH values. Also, their removal is tedious as the lipopolysaccharides contain a hydrophobic lipid moiety and a hydrophilic phosphate group. Therefore, the most effective way to achieve an endotoxin-free level for products is to avoid exposure to the possible sources of endotoxins in the first place.
Five questions to ask yourself (addressed in this app note):
- Are your pipette tips tested and certified with sufficiently low endotoxin-free limits?
- Does the packaging of tips protect the purity of tips through transportation to your lab bench?
- Do you have clear standard operating procedures (SOPs), for example, for pipetting protocols and maintenance?
- Do your instruments support the avoidance of errors in pipetting?
- Are the users trained in correct pipetting technique, and do they understand the effect of poor technique on their results?
Download the application note now, courtesy of Sartorius.
