Bone such as cortical or cancellous bone or connective tissue are
centrifuged as a solution is applied to the tissue in a continuous
process. The centrifuge creates forces, which cause the flowing solution
to penetrate substantially all of the cavities of the tissue. The
solution, which may be alcohol, a detergent, an oxidizer, or a
surfactant, with or without water, flushes the cavities of the tissue and
removes and inactivates viral and bacterial contaminants. In a second
embodiment, bone or connective tissue is centrifuged in a batch process
to remove contaminants from cavities in the tissue by first spinning the
tissue dry and then submerging the tissue in a viral/bacteria cleansing
solution and centrifuging the submerged tissue and solution at a
sufficiently high speed and radius from the spin axis to create
substantially high G forces on the tissue and solution to force the
solution into and through the tissue cavities. The solution with the
flushed contaminants is then removed from the vicinity of the tissue. In
a further embodiment, an enzyme is centrifuged with the tissue to digest
lipids and proteins which are then removed with a flushing solution which
may also inactivate viral and bacterial contaminants. In yet a further
embodiment, the centrifuge can be used to infuse biologically and/or
structurally useful materials into the tissue. Further, the lipids and
proteins may be removed by a chemically active agent such as oxo anions.