AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Development of an Air-Liquid Direct Exposure System for In Vitro Cell Exposure to Airborne Sub-Micron and Nano- Particles
TA-CHIH HSIAO, Chun-Wan Chen, Yun-Ching Cheng, Ya-Chien Changchien, National Central University, Jhongli City, Taiwan
Abstract Number: 218 Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract To study adverse cellular effects induced by inhalable substances, three methodologies have generally been employed: (1) animal experiments, (2) ex vivo studies of cells of bronchial lavage or biopsies and (3) in vitro systems of exposure of lung cells to pollutants under controlled conditions [Devlin, Frampton and Ghio, 2005]. Although in vitro models lack the ability to account for all intercellular interactions in the cells’ natural environment, studies using in vitro exposure models enable investigators to examine the effects of inhaled toxins on specific cell types, and are important to determine potential cellular mechanisms mediating these responses [Volcken at al., 2009]. In addition, in vitro studies are relatively inexpensive, compared with ex vivo studies and animal experiments. However, the traditional in vitro testing method represents an unrealistic way of inhalation exposure, since the in vivo exposure occurs at the air-liquid interface and not under fully immersed (submerged) conditions [Lenz et al., 2009]. The physico-chemical properties of particles, such as the size, surface area, morphology, and chemical composition would be altered significantly if the particles are suspended and/or dissolved in medium solution. [Tippe, Heinzmann and Roth, 2002].
In recent years, the air-liquid direct/air-liquid interface (ALI) exposure method is considered as a more realistic experimental scheme for in vitro cell exposure to airborne particles. In this study, a newly-designed ESP-type ALI exposure chamber was constructed, and its performance was evaluated under different operating conditions. The effects of different geometric dimensions were investigated. The preliminary results demonstrated the ALI chamber /system designed in this study is a promising and feasible method for in vitro cell exposure to airborne Sub-micron and Nano- particles.