Hey everybody, Dr. O. In this video we're going to talk about the alkylating agents. Maybe you haven't heard that term, but you've probably heard of things like formaldehyde. So we will primarily focus on formaldehyde and glutaraldehyde, but we will talk about a few other ones as well.
So how these actually work, alkylating agents, what they do is they pull hydrogen atoms off of molecules and plop on something with an alkyl group. Don't worry about the chemistry, but obviously it inactivates the enzymes. and can damage and activate nucleic acids, which make your genetic material, DNA and RNA. So let's start with formaldehyde.
So formaldehyde is primarily used, like when I think of formaldehyde, I think of like an old-school embalming fluid, or I think of the preservative that's in the specimens that we dissect, like in my anatomy classes. So formaldehyde is actually at a concentration of 37%. It's called formalin in the liquid solution, but it can be used as a gaseous disinfectant as well.
So notice I said disinfectant. None of these are going to be antiseptics because they're carcinogenic and they can definitely damage living tissues. So they're going to be, they're very powerful disinfectants, but that's their biggest drawback. All right. So formaldehyde, like I said, is very irritating.
Like personally, I'm around it. I'm kind of used to it, but I definitely have some problems if I get it on my skin, as anyone would. All right.
So that's going to be formaldehyde or formalin. That's the key thing with formaldehyde is that 37% solution of formaldehyde is called formalin. And that's going to be what preserves the specimens in our labs.
Glutaraldehyde is going to be more effective. You'll only need about 2% of it. It is a sterilizing agent.
Often you'll see it under the brand name of Cydex. So glutaraldehyde is like the next generation of formaldehyde. And it does appear to be an actual chemical sterilizing agent.
Speaking of sterilizing agents, let's jump down to ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide is the only gaseous sterilant that we talk about on a regular basis in my courses. So ethylene oxide, it's used if you want to sterilize package materials. There used to be larger like ethylene oxide sterilizing chambers.
But so ethylene oxide, just remember, it can be a gaseous sterilant. Now, the last one here, we won't talk about the propionolactone, but the new one, OPAO phthalaldehyde. is slowly replacing glutaraldehyde. So you'll see this in newer formulations of Cydex, the brand name there.
The reason it is becoming more popular is because it's actually more effective, especially against the mycobacterium that caused tuberculosis, but is less irritating and doesn't smell as bad either. So that's the good thing about a lot of these chemicals, is hopefully we continue to find and replace old ones with chemicals that are more effective, less irritating, etc. Alright, so those are the alkylating agents. So you had an example of glutaraldehyde. And this O-thalaldehyde would be examples of chemical sterilants, sterilizing agents that actually remove all living things.
And then ethylene oxide would be my favorite example of a gaseous sterilant. Okay, those are your alkylating agents. Have a wonderful day.
Be blessed.