American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 36th Annual Conference
October 16 - October 20, 2017
Raleigh Convention Center
Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

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In Vitro Aerosol Exposure of Nanoaerosols: From Laboratory to Field Toxicity Testing

TREVOR TILLY, M. Tyler Nelson, Christin Grabinski, David Mattie, Chang-Yu Wu, Saber Hussain, Air Force Research Laboratory

     Abstract Number: 772
     Working Group: Aerosol Exposure

Abstract
Exposure to nanoaerosols (NAs) is inevitable, whether incidental or intentional, and its impact requires robust toxicological assessment. Advanced in vitro models which consist of culture cells at the air-liquid interface (ALI) have made direct delivery of nanoparticles onto cells possible to allow researchers to assess the toxicity of NAs as they occur. Despite these developments, operational and environmental toxicity assessments to date mainly collect particles exposed in the field and then conduct toxicity assessment in the laboratory. A custom designed aerosol exposure chamber (AEC) was tested on its ability to assess the toxicity of three NAs comprised of CuO, NiO, and ZnO exposed to A549 lung epithelial cells cultured at the ALI in comparison to traditional toxicity screening with submerged cell culture. Then the AEC was taken to the firing range, and the same cell line was exposed to NAs emitted by a 9 mm pistol and a semi-automatic rifle. The cell viability was assessed using lactate dehydrogenase and alamarBlue and the inflammation response was determined using IL-8 ELISA. A dose dependent toxicity response from cells exposed to the laboratory NAs was observed, with the ALI cell models being more resilient against higher particle exposure concentrations than submerged culture. In agreement with published literature, the CuO and ZnO reduced the cellular viability greatest by ~60% at concentrations of 1.87 and 24.1 µg/cm2, respectively, and a delivered dosage of NiO at 8.09 µg/cm2 reduced the cellular viability by just over 30%. NA exposure from rifle fire reduced cell viability greater than that of a pistol, while the pistol stimulated inflammatory cytokine release of IL-8, which is likely due to the lethal exposure to the cells exposed to rifle exhaust caused by overloading of cells with Cu, Fe, and Ni particles, making them unable to secrete IL-8.

Distribution A: Approved for public release; distribution unlimited. (PA Case No. 88ABW-2016-4456, Date 15 Sep 2016)