History of isolator and containment technology Part 1: Early containment leading to flexible film isolator

Abstract

This is the first of five papers that will describe the history and development of containment technology in the field of research, medicine and pharmaceutical applications. The paper commences with the development of containment for various purposes but essentially for experiments to determine if the raising of germ free animals was possible and practical. The paper goes on to describe how the experimental work in the late 1920s led to the development of metal and then flexible film isolators for use in veterinary research, human medicine and surgery. The notable contributions of Philip Trexler, known to everyone as Trex, from the 1930s right through to the 1960s, especially in patient care and treatment, are recorded.

Introduction

The concept of isolation from the surrounding environment is not new. In the late 1800s botanists used simple bell jars to cover growing plants in assessing their various development and physiological properties. In World War I a number of limb isolator designs were tried. These consisted of a leak-proof rubber device fitted with inlet and outlet tubes to enclose a limb. The surfaces of the limb so enclosed could be continuously irrigated with various agents to treat burns and the effects of mustard gas. However, historically, a starting point of isolators design and use is the research and development of germ-free animals. Pasteur in 1885 (1) mused on the effect of rearing germ-free species and that they would not survive. Schottelius (2,3,4) who was a supporter of Pasteur took up the challenge and published a number of papers on a method of raising germ-free chickens.

The idea was that germ-free animals could be used to determine the effect of various gut bacteria on growth related to nutrition and later to evaluate probiotic agents. Still later single organism animals were used to observe the effects of various drugs under investigation against specific pathogens. The term gnotobiotic is used to cover both germfree and single organism animals although strictly speaking gnotobiotic should apply to animals that have one known gut bacteria. Further development took place including the work of Nuttal and Thierfelder on the raising of germ-free guinea pigs in an isolator system based upon the use of modified bell jars. (5,6,7) The animals were delivered by caesarean section but they survived for only two weeks. The feeding was thought to have been inadequate and difficult.

A courtesy of ‘Clean Air & Containment Review’ – www.cleanairandcontainment.com