AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Evaluation of the Toxicological Potential of Silver Nanoparticles
STEFANIE KASURINEN, Pasi, I Jalava, Kari Kuuspalo, Ari Leskinen, Kati Huttunen, Jorma Jokiniemi, Kari Lehtinen, Maija-Riitta Hirvonen, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
Abstract Number: 111 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract Combustion emissions and nanoparticles are widely recognized as harmful to human health and there is a growing need for the development of alternative and more realistic in vitro exposure models for the research of their adverse health effects.
We used a Vitrocell® exposure system with A549 alveolar epithelial cells for the in vitro exposures.
The Ag/Ag$_2O-aerosol for the experiments was produced using a Carbolite MTF12/38B tube furnace with a tube length of 45 cm and inner diameter of 22 mm. A laminar N$_2-flow was lead trough the tube furnace and compressed pure air was used in the porous tube diluter to quench the carrier gas. The size distribution of the generated particles was characterized and their morphology was studied.
A549 cells were cultivated at air lifted conditions prior, posterior and during the exposure experiments. Ag/Ag$_2O-aerosol flow was adjusted to the desired speed and the cells were exposed to the PM for various durations. After exposure, the cells were removed from the Vitrocell® module and allowed to recover for 24 h. Culture medium aliquots were taken and levels of different pro-inflammatory cytokines were determined using the Meso Scale Discovery multi-spot assay system. A PM concentration dependent increase in both IL-6 and IL-8 release was found, indicating the induction of pro-inflammatory processes in A549 cells upon exposure to silver nanoparticles.
The system is easily adjustable for the air-liquid exposure of lung cell models to exhausts from cars, wood burning devices and others.