Sterilizing injection pen cartridges

GimmeABreak

GimmeABreak

Rabbit-hole Explorer
Member Since
Oct 6, 2024
Posts
870
Likes Received
2,003
From
DFW TX
I ordered a handful of cartridges from two different pen suppliers and they claim they are sterilized but no real way to be certain. Is there a way I can sterilize them in my lab? I searched this on other forums + reddit and can't seem to find any info. Insta pot? UV Light? With either of these methods, if the cart is sealed does sterilization even work?
TIA
 
I've heard of several taking them to a dentist office or doctor's that they're close with and sterilize with their equipment. Not sure how Insta Pot would work but maybe?
 
Yes, asking a vet, dentist, doctor, or even a school if they will autoclave it for you will work.

Unfortunately an Instant Pot does not get hot enough. I believe the sterilize function only gets to about 239F (118C) . You want to reach a temp of 250F (121C) for 15-20 mins. I know some may say close enough but it is up to you to decide your amount of risk.

A manual pressure cooker with a 15psi weight works. This is what I use and yes the tape does turn from blue to black.
 
Jackal said:
Yes, asking a vet, dentist, doctor, or even a school if they will autoclave it for you will work.

Unfortunately an Instant Pot does not get hot enough. I believe the sterilize function only gets to about 239F (118C) . You want to reach a temp of 250F (121C) for 15-20 mins. I know some may say close enough but it is up to you to decide your amount of risk.

A manual pressure cooker with a 15psi weight works. This is what I use and yes the tape does turn from blue to black.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the quick response. So something like this would work:


Any idea how long it would take?
 
Jackal said:
Yes, asking a vet, dentist, doctor, or even a school if they will autoclave it for you will work.

Unfortunately an Instant Pot does not get hot enough. I believe the sterilize function only gets to about 239F (118C) . You want to reach a temp of 250F (121C) for 15-20 mins. I know some may say close enough but it is up to you to decide your amount of risk.

A manual pressure cooker with a 15psi weight works. This is what I use and yes the tape does turn from blue to black.
Click to expand...
Genuinely curious… why 250 F when the FDA says 165F for food born bacteria?
 
Jackal said:
Yes, asking a vet, dentist, doctor, or even a school if they will autoclave it for you will work.

Unfortunately an Instant Pot does not get hot enough. I believe the sterilize function only gets to about 239F (118C) . You want to reach a temp of 250F (121C) for 15-20 mins. I know some may say close enough but it is up to you to decide your amount of risk.

A manual pressure cooker with a 15psi weight works. This is what I use and yes the tape does turn from blue to black.
Click to expand...
I’m trying to figure this out. How do the cartridges get sterilized inside of the packaging, sealed at both ends with rubber stoppers? Just by virtue of the temp?

ETA: ok, I got part of it, medical grade kraft paper is permeable. The second part, the rubber stoppers…idk.
 
Last edited:
fetefille said:
I’m trying to figure this out. How do the cartridges get sterilized inside of the packaging, sealed at both ends with rubber stoppers? Just by virtue of the temp?

ETA: ok, I got part of it, medical grade kraft paper is permeable. The second part, the rubber stoppers…idk.
Click to expand...
Pressure causes the stoppers to pop out. You re-insert them while still packaged.

I haven’t actually done this personally but this is my understanding of it
 
RedSkip said:
Genuinely curious… why 250 F when the FDA says 165F for food born bacteria?
Click to expand...
Honestly, I don't know. I did a LOT of reading on it and that keeps coming up. I also asked a dermatologist that I have worked with for years and she said her practice autoclaves at 121C. Which she kindly did my first batch.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/steam-sterilization has some information and a nice timing chart.
I think it comes down your risk tolerance level.
 
Thanks for all of the reply's. I am either going to go with the $40 autoclave (in the amazon link above) or just roll the dice and hope the cartridge vendors actually sterilize them.... (TAKE THAT! immune system)
 
exploitedworkerbee said:
Pressure causes the stoppers to pop out. You re-insert them while still packaged.

I haven’t actually done this personally but this is my understanding of it
Click to expand...
Ahhhh interesting, the way my brain wouldn’t let this go.
 
Where I work we sterilize things at 270F for 8 minutes. Unless it’s a fluid or needs to be run on a special cycle.
 
For those that are into mycology sterilizing jars of media are a normal part of our hobby. A standard pressure cooker with weight and a gauge (important) can mimic a 121C 15psi sterilization procedure. Typically I use 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes. Also I like to add a quarter to the weight on my cooker to increase the pressure to 17psi. Make sure to not start your 30min timer until after the pressure reaches >=15psi and you have turned the heat down.

Also here is a chart of time temp psi for sterilizing

And if you buy a pressure cooker and build a still air box you can then get into mycology and grow fungi for fun and health benefits.
 
IGezs said:
For those that are into mycology sterilizing jars of media are a normal part of our hobby. A standard pressure cooker with weight and a gauge (important) can mimic a 121C 15psi sterilization procedure. Typically I use 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes. Also I like to add a quarter to the weight on my cooker to increase the pressure to 17psi. Make sure to not start your 30min timer until after the pressure reaches >=15psi and you have turned the heat down.

Also here is a chart of time temp psi for sterilizing

And if you buy a pressure cooker and build a still air box you can then get into mycology and grow fungi for fun and health benefits.
Click to expand...
Any thoughts on an Instant Pot? Likely not going to buy a new pressure cooker when cartridges are so cheap, but might dabble with the instant pot.
 
The instapots only get up to 12psi. They are used but you need to increase the run time. I would go 2 hours minimum. The newer instapot max that does 15psi should be ok but I never researched how well they maintain pressure / temperature.
However I would sooner use one of the cheap 6 quart pressure cookers with no gauge but does have a traditional rocker weight that I can manipulate.
 
IGezs said:
The instapots only get up to 12psi. They are used but you need to increase the run time. I would go 2 hours minimum. The newer instapot max that does 15psi should be ok but I never researched how well they maintain pressure / temperature.
However I would sooner use one of the cheap 6 quart pressure cookers with no gauge but does have a traditional rocker weight that I can manipulate.
Click to expand...
Putting a weight on the rocker weight seems sketchy and a recipe for disaster for most.
 
RedSkip said:
Putting a weight on the rocker weight seems sketchy and a recipe for disaster for most.
Click to expand...
These do 15psi out of the box.

The quarter sits on the rocker weight. If you don't turn down the heat once it gets going the quarter will fall off. It ensures that the weight is just over the minimum for 15psi given the machining tolerances of the rocker weight.
 
Ok, so it sounds like the Insta Pot (that I already own) will do a pretty good job if I run it for 2+ hours? I hate buying appliances or other things that I will only use once or twice.
 
yes, tests with instapot were able to neutralize the geobacillus bacteria after 1:45 min run. Stick to a 2hr run and use a proper sterilization pouch and you should be relatively safe.
 
FWIW, we have a test group going on right now at FPPG Test Group that is testing 4-5 various vendors' pen cartridges if anyone is interested.
 
These are just my most educated guesses - as far as the difference in temperatures between food and the sterilization of injectable tools, it comes down to the fact that when you inject something you are bypassing all of the body’s natural defense systems - skin, stomach acid, enzymes, and the immune system in your gut.
The most common form of bacteria seen in wounds is staphylococcus. If you maintain excellent hand hygiene, use alcohol swabs before you pin and keep a dedicated area that is clean you’re doing good. As for sterilizing the cartridges, I would agree with everyone else who said that it’s a good idea to make sure that they are sterilized.
 
Just curious. How does this affect the rubber. I got some recently from Heaven's store Aliexpress. The rubber stoppers seemed very difficult to move. It almost takes brute force to get them started. I purchased others from EZPENS that uses steam sterilization and those rubber stoppers move very nicely, very smooth.

I think just applying heat, would dry the rubber out? The steam process wouldn't do that. Rubber is a pesty product when it comes to exposure to heat and UV. Just look at what happens to the rubber parts of your car.
 
Suprised with the instapot conversation noone has share this study again

Assessment and verification of commercially available pressure cookers for laboratory sterilization - PMC

Laboratory science requires careful maintenance of sterile reagents and tools as well as the sterilization of waste prior to disposal. However, steam autoclaves typically used for this purpose may not be readily accessible to everyone in the ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
They talk about a few different presure cookers and the
[td]
Instant Pot​
[/td][td]
IP-DUO80​
[/td]​

In this work, we assessed the viability of four brands of 8-quart pressure cooker to sterilize biological consumables and instrumentation. All four brands inactivated the microbes contaminating microbiological culture media and on metal implements within 15 mins and 30 mins of run time, respectively. The pressure cookers tested also inactivated high titers of bacteria and fungi, some of which are medically relevant strains, within 15 mins and 60 mins of run time, respectively. Unlike the other brands tested, the Instant Pot was capable of inactivating 106 G. stearothermophilus spores, which indicates that it can sterilize items to the level generally deemed acceptable for laboratory autoclaves. These data demonstrate that the pressure cookers tested are a viable alternative for steam sterilizing laboratory items when an autoclave is unavailable.
 
Mr. Smith said:
Just curious. How does this affect the rubber. I got some recently from Heaven's store Aliexpress. The rubber stoppers seemed very difficult to move. It almost takes brute force to get them started. I purchased others from EZPENS that uses steam sterilization and those rubber stoppers move very nicely, very smooth.

I think just applying heat, would dry the rubber out? The steam process wouldn't do that. Rubber is a pesty product when it comes to exposure to heat and UV. Just look at what happens to the rubber parts of your car.
Click to expand...
This thread was very useful. My labels were blue initially. I had a prestige pressure cooker with weight and steamed these for half an hour and the labels turned black. A tiny drop of water was inside the pouch after this, but thats ok as the stopper did not pop out. As far as the stopper being stuck is concerned, I guess its some kind of glue or seal and is intended to be there. I tested one of them before steaming and it was still stuck. I think it surves 2 purposes. To prevent the stopper from popping when steamed. To accidently prevent the Stopper popping out when filling medication without using a second needle to let the air out, and its definitely not steam doing it.

Also I dont know what temperature the pressure cooker went as the bosch infrared thermomenter could not read the temp due to reflective surface of stainless steel. Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
We have a testing group where I participated to test a ton of different carts for sterility, some already been sent to Jano
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Trending Topics

Latest Posts

Members Online

Total: 176 (20 Members & 156 Guests)

Forum Statistics

Threads
3,737
Posts
57,586
Members
8,947
Newest
natural714

Share This Page!

Top Bottom