AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Collection of House Dust Aerosols Complemented with Common Allergen Proteins: Comparison of Sampler Efficiencies with MARIA™ Allergen Assay
DAVID ALBURTY, Pamela Murowchick, AlburtyLab, Inc.
Abstract Number: 616 Working Group: Health Related Aerosols
Abstract The InnovaPrep ACD-200 Bobcat Air Sampler is a lightweight, portable, dry filter air sampler with a unique wet elution system. This system has been developed to address a broad range of air sampling requirements and was recently included in an aerosol comparative challenge testing for the collection of allergens performed by personnel at AlburtyLab, Inc.
The ACD-200 consists of a self-contained medium volume aerosol collector replaceable 52 mm dry electret filter and a simple to operate electret filter biological sample elutor. During this testing, collection was initiated manually and was operated in the “Extended Run” mode (1 min on at 100 Lpm, 5 min off).
The objective of this testing was to compare the performance of ACD-200 to other commercially available aerosol sampling devices: 47 mm polycarbonate reference filters, NIOSH BC-251 two-stage cyclone-based personal bioaerosol sampler, and AGI-30s.
House dust samples that had been complemented with nine common indoor allergen proteins were pulverized using a mortar and pestle and then disseminated into the aerosol test chamber using a dry dissemination system developed at AlburtyLab referred to as a Tapper. Use of this dissemination device resulted in an aerosol with a concentration of 0.2 mg/m3 and a mass mean particle diameter of 5.048 µm AD.
The allergen protein samples were collected from each of the sampling systems and shipped to Indoor Biotechnologies for analysis using the multiplex MARIA™ Allergen Assay kit.
The calculated aspiration and recovery efficiencies were determined for each of the sampling systems based on the average result determined for the reference filters. The ACD-200 and its associated elution system proved effective in collecting and releasing the allergen complemented house dust to the liquid sample. In many cases the determined aerosol concentration exceeded that determined by the reference method.