Genetic material is present in cadaveric dermis and cadaveric fascia lata

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.