| 摘要 |
A method for determining the effectiveness of a sterilization or disinfection process, said method comprising providing a biological indicator comprising at least one live organism into which a luminescent material has been introduced and measuring the luminescence of the indicator before and after sterilization or disinfection wherein the live organism comprises a permeability layer that retains the luminescent material; and killing the organism by sterilization or disinfection permits the luminescent material to pass through the permeability layer, thereby changing the luminescence of the biological indicator. The biological indicator may be a bacterial spore or endospore and the luminescent material may be a metal ion dye complex. The assay may involve a competitive reaction for the metal ion between a first chelator such as dipicolinic acid (DPA, pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid) a component of the endospore, and the fluorescent chelator. The DPA metal ion complex may itself be fluorescent if the metal ion is a rare earth such as terbium or europium. |
