Hi Helene et.al.,
Here is Jon's response to your question. Note that he is
giving his experiences only. I hope this info helps clarify the
matter.
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date sent: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 00:38:54 EST
Subject: Re: RED ALERT re: Keeping Interferon as fresh as possible
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
James:
You wanted some context on refreezing Interferon:
To keep it from deteriorating, bulk Interferon is delivered frozen, packed in
dry ice, to veterinarians offices. They keep it in the frozen state until a
customer needs some, whereupon they thaw enough of it to fill the order --
the customer buys thawed solution and then keeps it refrigerated. All of
which is fairly common practice with complex biochemicals, which consist of
huge molecules that are very fragile, thus exceedingly perishable. They can
be damaged by all sorts of environmental factors. To complicate matters,
handling and storage recommendations change from one compound to another --
there are no hard and fast rules. After you brought my attention to that
mailgroup member's question, I accessed quite a few different web pages
containing storage recommendations for various Interferons, including -alpha
2b, and every one of them advised that users keep the bottles out of direct
light, and also AVOID REFREEZING THE THAWED SOLUTION. Repeated freeze/thaw
cycles are one of the ten gazillion abuses that a given biochemical may or
may not tolerate, and apparently Interferon doesn't like it.
As you might recall, my wife is a biotechnologist; she has lots of experience
with biochemicals, including cytokines (Interferon is a cytokine), and she
feels that one added freeze/thaw cycle is a lesser evil than the bacterial
colonies that were infecting our refrigerated batches of solution. In my
experience, vets don't bother using sterile techniques when they're packing
thawed Interferon into bottles -- sterile techniques are a BIG hassle, and
they just want to get it done with. All of which makes contamination
inevitable. Also, my cat is doing GREAT on rethawed single doses. Honestly,
I think my refreezing method is doing more good than harm, and I'm going to
keep doing it, but since all the published storage protocols advise against
refreezing, it's probably a bad idea to recommend this method to others, and
I wish I hadn't done so.
Again, I'm very sorry about this. You could share this information with the
mailgroup in a "Pros and Cons" manner, but it might make more sense to just
issue a retraction.
-- Jon
------- End of forwarded message -------
In loving memory of Vyvyan: March 20, 1988 - August 15, 1997
James G. Wilson- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.felineleukemia.org
http://www.angelfire.com/il/felv/
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Spa/8025/
http://members.tripod.com/~niu1/
http://members.xoom.com/felv/
