Uses

Disinfection

Glutaraldehyde is used as a disinfectant and medication.

Usually applied as a solution, it is used to sterilize surgical instruments and other areas.

Fixative

Glutaraldehyde is used in biochemistry applications as an amine-reactive homobifunctional crosslinker and fixative prior to SDS-PAGE, staining, or electron microscopy. It kills cells quickly by crosslinking their proteins. It is usually employed alone or mixed with formaldehyde^[13] as the first of two fixative processes to stabilize specimens such as bacteria, plant material, and human cells. A second fixative procedure uses osmium tetroxide to crosslink and stabilize cell and organelle membrane lipids. Fixation is usually followed by dehydration of the tissue in ethanol or acetone, followed by embedding in an epoxy resin or acrylic resin.^{[citation needed]}

Another application for treatment of proteins with glutaraldehyde is the inactivation of bacterial toxins to generate toxoid vaccines, e.g., the pertussis (whooping cough) toxoid component in the Boostrix Tdap vaccine produced by GlaxoSmithKline.^[14]

In a related application, glutaraldehyde is sometimes employed in the tanning of leather and in embalming.

Wart treatment

As a medication it is used to treat plantar warts.^[4] For this purpose, a 10% w/v solution is used. It dries the skin, facilitating physical removal of the wart.^[15] Trade names include Diswart Solution and Glutarol.