The Stability Studies of Penicillin and Ampicillin following γ-Irradiation in the Solid State

The effect of 10 and 25 kGy γ-irradiation on penicillin G plus procaine and sodium ampicillin has been assessed by different chemical and microbiological analytical methods. According to the chemical results obtained, the antibiotics showed a slight reduction in doses applied but the microbiological assays revealed that the activity of irradiated antibiotics did not reduce. Microbiological studies were carried out in order to determine the minimum absorbed dose required to achieve Sterility Assurance Level (SAL) of 10-6. Briefly, lower irradiation doses seem to be useful for decontamination purposes.