Influence of β-radiation sterilisation in properties of new chitosan/soybean protein isolate membranes for guided bone regeneration

Novel chitosan (cts) and soybean protein isolate (SI) blended membranes were prepared. These membranes were produced by solvent casting. Besides combining the advantages of both materials, cts/SI membranes exhibit a biphasic structure that will eventually originate in situ porous formation, through a two-step degradation mechanism. In this particular work the effect of β-radiation over the properties of these membranes was evaluated. β-radiation sterilisation was performed at three different doses (25, 50 and 100 kGy) and eventual surface chemical changes were evaluated by Fourier transformed infrared – with attenuated total reflection and contact angle measurements. Moreover, eventual bulk properties changes due to β-radiation were assessed by means of mechanical tensile tests and water uptake measurements. In general, no substantial changes were detected on the studied properties, with the exception of the surface energy that was found to be slightly increased for higher applied doses.