Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Regenerative therapy is a developing field in medicine. In the production of cell products for these therapies, hygienic management is even more critical than in the production of a chemical drug. At the same time, however, care is required with the use of decontamination agents, considering their effects on cell viability and characteristics. To date, hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) is most widely used for decontamination in pharmaceutical plants and cell processing facilities. METHODS: In this study, we examined the effects of residual H(2)O(2) in the atmosphere of cell processing units after decontamination on the viability and proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human bone marrow. RESULTS: We detected residual H(2)O(2) sufficient to affect cell proliferation and survival even more than 30 h after decontamination ended. Our results suggest a longer time period is required before starting operations after decontamination and that the operating time should be as short as possible. CONCLUSIONS: Here we show the effects of post-decontamination residual H(2)O(2) on the viability and proliferation of mesenchymal stem cells derived from human bone marrow, which may provide us with important information about the hygienic management of cell processing facilities.