AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Deposition of Carbon Nanotubes in the Human Respiratory Tract
WEI-CHUNG SU, Yung-Sung Cheng, Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute
Abstract Number: 449 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been used in a variety of commercial applications because of their unique physical properties. CNT materials might become airborne in the workplace or laboratory during the manufacturing and handing processes. Animal studies have shown that inhalation of the CNT aerosols may lead to adverse pulmonary effects. Therefore, from the viewpoint of occupational health, it is important to obtain associated deposition data of CNT in the human respiratory tract in order to well assess the risk of exposure to CNT aerosols in related workplaces. To achieve this goal, a series of CNTs lung deposition experiments were conducted in our lab using a realistic human respiratory tract replica with various CNT aerosols. The CNT materials employed in the study were Staked-cup CNT, Single-walled CNT, and Multi-walled CNT. These CNT materials were aerosolized either by a nebulizer-based wet method or by a vortex mixer-based dry method. The deposition experiments were conducted by delivering DMA classified CNT aerosols (dB = 50, 100, and 200 nm) into the human airway replica, and then use a SMPS to indirectly measure the deposition of the CNT aerosols in the airway replica. The deposition results acquired showed that very few CNT aerosols were found deposited in the airway replica. The fractional deposition as well as the deposition efficiency in each airway section is generally below 5%. This result implies that most of the inhaled CNTs will transit down to the lower lung airways, which might induce adverse health effects in the deep lung.