Sterilizing injection pen cartridges

[Arnie]

If a stopper is stuck, it is not because of glue or any sealant. Instead, this happens due to the expansion of the rubber during the heating process. Both the glass and rubber expand during heat sterilization, but as they cool, the glass contracts before the rubber does. This difference in contraction can cause the stoppers to stick. Additionally, these cartridges may have been stored for a long time before being sold or used, which can also contribute to the sticking of stoppers.

Note: Heat alone is not sufficient to sterilize these vials for our intended purposes.

I have opened 6 vials till date and i see that for all vials, only the bottom part of the vial is stuck. When I carefully press the plunger with my fingers, i can see the rubber stretching at the bottom - like there was some synthetic glue used. I am assuming this is purposefully glued for the reason i mentioned above because in my case it came un treated (unless the factory heat treated this first before putting them into the pouch). But cant be sure.

Other than steaming, I usually flush my vials with 0.3 mils of back water and then transfer peptides into it. A lot of my friends usually use this without any steaming or cleaning and they say they have no issues. I have OCD and i do my steaming and flushing to be on the safer side.

 

[Lifeworthliving]

Question for those on this thread who are using a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. Are you just sterilizing your 3 mL cartridge, or are you sterilizing everything (in the packaging, of course)? Needles, syringes, vials, etc?

 

[Lifeworthliving]

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.

I tried this last night with my pressure cooker, rocker set to 15 PSI. I had a dish set above the water, but too much water collected next to the paper (going to try again with a metal rack). I believe this caused a failure in the packaging, allowing water to be sucked up into the packaging and the vial.

I did get the indicator testing section on the packaging ot fully activate.

 

[Ted R]

I just did a run of 20 cartridges in an Instant Pot Ultra. Put 4 cartridges in each sterilization pouch and popped out the stoppers before sealing the pouch. Placed, standing up around the sides of a mesh basket, and processed on high pressure for 150 minutes. Natural released, and without touching the wet pouches, moved the basket into a 225 deg. oven for 30 minutes. Manipulated the stoppers back into each cartridge in the still-sealed bag. You will notice that the steam autoclave indicator on the pouch changed to dark gray. [Imported image pending local asset: data-attachments-7-7574-3fca98d6112d7294f45fbc9d71e20046.jpg]

 

[Morbius]

Fiddling with the stoppers while in the bag, smart.

 

[FlowerFairy]

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)

Just make sure you remove all the blue plastic tape from the parts inside

 

[Ted R]

Just make sure you remove all the blue plastic tape from the parts inside

That sounds like advice from someone speaking from experience!

 

[TooBigtoFail]

I will be trying out injection pens soon. I will not be fiddling with home sterilization of cartridges: Non sterile water, non sterile pressure cooker, etc. I would make it worst, IMO. Am I missing something? I see EO processed vials are cheap and available. If I doubt the EO processed, I will send to a lab for analysis. Its one thing to eat your food vacuum packed in a Mason jar, quite another to inject the content. You trust the needles, syringes, gray, but not the vials? why? Buy 100, send 5 for analysis and be done, no?

 

[Ted R]

No.

 

[Arnie]

I tried this last night with my pressure cooker, rocker set to 15 PSI. I had a dish set above the water, but too much water collected next to the paper (going to try again with a metal rack). I believe this caused a failure in the packaging, allowing water to be sucked up into the packaging and the vial.

I did get the indicator testing section on the packaging ot fully activate.

I kept it on a metal stand inside the cooker There was no water inside the puch. The pouch itself was slightly damp from the steam. I popped them inside the oven set at 35C and they were dry in 3 to 5 mins.

I will be trying out injection pens soon. I will not be fiddling with home sterilization of cartridges: Non sterile water, non sterile pressure cooker, etc. I would make it worst, IMO. Am I missing something? I see EO processed vials are cheap and available. If I doubt the EO processed, I will send to a lab for analysis. Its one thing to eat your food vacuum packed in a Mason jar, quite another to inject the content. You trust the needles, syringes, gray, but not the vials? why? Buy 100, send 5 for analysis and be done, no?

I used RO water from the filter to steam them. At that heat it really dont matter much as the pouches are sealed and water proof. All good even if you dont do it. Most people are not even aware that those colours mean something.

 

[MsGizmo]

you want to reach a temp of 250F (121C) for 15-20 mins.

Ok maybe a stupid question ... but why not use a stove?

 

[4StrandKnot]

Genuinely curious… why 250 F when the FDA says 165F for food born bacteria?

Storage and anaerobic bacteria. Same reason that pressure canning is required for certain foods like meat, to bring that temperature up to 245F. (I forget the exact temp)

Let's take chicken as an example. Raw chicken has spoilage bacteria. It thrives in an aerobic environment. Spoilage bacteria and the aerobic environment keeps the anaerobic bacteria away. Spoilage bacteria doesn't typically kill you. Some doesn't harm you at all, others (such as listeria) can make you sick, depending on their virulence.

We don't know what is on that chicken, so by cooking it to 165F, we make sure the bacteria is gone, and anything that remains is in low enough quantities that it can't typically harm us.

That also means there are fewer defenses against serious toxins such as botulinum.

C. Botulinum thrives in an anaerobic environment. Botulinum is killed around 200F, but the neurotoxin from botulinum is in the spores that it leaves behind! The spores are not neutralized until a much higher temperature can be reached -- higher than the boiling point of water, which means that for food, that temperature can only be reached by pressurization.

 

[50ShadesGreyMarket]

Thanks for the quick response. So something like this would work:

Amazon.com: High Temperature Autoclave Machine 110V 300W 1.5L by Plutusdental : Industrial & Scientific

Buy High Temperature Autoclave Machine 110V 300W 1.5L by Plutusdental on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

www.amazon.com

Any idea how long it would take?

Won’t the dry heat melt the rubber? I was under the impression you need the type with steam and pressure for cartridges.

 

[MsGizmo]

Won’t the dry heat melt the rubber? I was under the impression you need the type with steam and pressure for cartridges.

Medical-grade rubber, which is typically silicone, does not melt but instead degrades and decomposes at high temperatures, generally starting to lose its properties above 250ºC/482ºF to 300ºC/572ºF. While some grades can handle intermittent exposure to temperatures up to 300ºC/572ºF or slightly higher, continuous exposure above this limit will cause it to break down over time.

That autoclave sold on Amazon doesn't get hot enough. Honestly though, you don't need an autoclave to sterilize glass and rubber. Throwing them into a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes would do the job.

 

[zexze]

I just did a run of 20 cartridges in an Instant Pot Ultra. Put 4 cartridges in each sterilization pouch and popped out the stoppers before sealing the pouch. Placed, standing up around the sides of a mesh basket, and processed on high pressure for 150 minutes. Natural released, and without touching the wet pouches, moved the basket into a 225 deg. oven for 30 minutes. Manipulated the stoppers back into each cartridge in the still-sealed bag. You will notice that the steam autoclave indicator on the pouch changed to dark gray. View attachment 7574

I apologize for bringing an old post back to life!

I made two batches of about five pouches/cartridges each using my old Instant Pot. The first batch was steamed for 40 minutes, and the second batch for 130 minutes.

The inducing color has changed to a darker green instead of dark gray in both batches, and the stopper popped out in only one cartridge.

Is dark green an indicator of sufficient sterilization?