Intact genetic material is present in commercially processed cadaver allografts used for pubovaginal slings.

PURPOSE: We determined the presence, quantitated the concentration and assessed the length of DNA present in 4 commercially available human cadaver allografts.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated 10 tissue samples from each of 4 commercial sources of human allograft (Mentor Corp., Santa Barbara, California; Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, Edison, New Jersey; Regeneration Technologies, Inc., Alachua, Florida; and Life Cell Corp., Woodlands, Texas) for intact DNA segments. All allograft samples underwent a standard extraction technique (proteinase K/sodium dodecyl sulfate/phenol) to isolate genetic material. Spectrophotometry evaluation was done to quantify DNA concentrations. Polymerase chain reaction was performed to amplify the retrieved DNA material. Agarose gel electrophoresis was performed to determine the size of DNA fragments.

RESULTS: Of the 49 samples tested from all 4 commercial sources of human allograft fascia 39 (97.5%) contained DNA of 400 to 2,000 bp segments. A 400 bp DNA segment was present in 9 Mentor, 10 Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, 10 Regeneration Technologies and 10 Life Cell samples. A 700 bp DNA segment was present in 10 Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation, 10 Regeneration Technologies and 10 Life Cell allografts. A 2,000 bp DNA segment was present in 10 Life Cell tissues.

CONCLUSIONS: Intact genetic material was present in all 4 commercially processed human allografts. Tissue processing did not completely eliminate intact DNA segments. The size of the intact DNA and the concentration of DNA varied widely based on tissue processing methods.