Purpose. We determined whether genetic material is present in the commercia
lly processed cadaveric allografts used in sling surgery.
Materials and Methods: We evaluated 16 samples from 2 commercial sources of
human allograft, including 8 each of freeze-dried gamma irradiated cadaver
ic fascia lata and acellular cadaveric dermis. Fresh human rectus fascia an
d sterile saline served as positive and negative controls, respectively. Al
l samples underwent a standard proteinase K/sodium dodecyl sulfate/phenol e
xtraction technique to isolate DNA. Polymerase chain reaction was done to a
mplify the retrieved DNA material, spectrophotometry to quantify DNA concen
tration and agarose gel electrophoresis to determine the size of DNA fragme
nts.
Results: Of the 16 samples tested from 2 commercial sources of human allogr
aft fascia 14 (87.5%) contained DNA. Mean DNA concentration plus or minus s
tandard error was 258.3 +/- 80.1 and 272.8 +/- 168.8 mug./gm. tissue for ca
daveric fascia lata and cadaveric dermis, respectively. Polymerase chain re
action amplified DNA segments of 2,000 bp from 1 of each of the 8 samples o
f cadaveric fascia lata and cadaveric dermis.
Conclusions: Freeze-dried gamma irradiated cadaveric fascia lata and acellu
lar cadaveric dermis contained intact DNA.