AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
Health Effects Investigation of Nebulizing Alternaria Extracts and Nanosilica Particulate Matter using a Mouse Chamber
XINZE PENG, David R. Cocker III, David Lo, University of California, Riverside
Abstract Number: 387 Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract A whole-body exposure chamber is established and characterized for studying the exposure of mice to multiple air contaminants. This design is a result of a collaboration between the UC Riverside School of Medicine, CE-CERT, and plant/botany sciences. Alternaria, which is known as a common fungus to Southern California that has been shown to increase the risk of developing asthma when inhaled chronically, was used as a bioactive material for a five-day health study. Alternaria extracts diluted in water were nebulized into the chamber to generate a particle size distribution with a mode of 100 nm. Preliminary data using mice indicates an increase in both lung inflammation (e.g., elevated eosinophil levels) and brain inflammation (e.g., TLR2 induction) following a continuous five-day exposure. Silica Nanospheres in water solution were also nebulized into the chamber to generate a size distribution with a mode of 100 nm to serve as comparison study of non-bioactive nanoparticles. The research purpose of this study is to determine whether the health effects were caused by bioactive materials or by simple inhalation of nanoparticles.