AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
A Vibrating-mesh Nebulizer is an Alternative to the ‘Gold Standard’ Collison Nebulizer for Generating Experimental Aerosols Containing Infectious Agents
Jennifer Bowling, DOUGLAS REED, University of Pittsburgh
Abstract Number: 537 Working Group: Homeland Security
Abstract Animal studies to demonstrate efficacy of medical countermeasures against respiratory disease or biodefense threats require exposure of animals to aerosolized viruses and bacteria. Prior studies have shown that the choice of culture media and relative humidity in the aerosol chamber can impact the dose of infectious agent delivered to animals. Most infectious aerosol studies have involved the use of Collison jet nebulizers which create a small, relatively monodisperse aerosol that targets the deep lung. Collison nebulizers require a relatively large volume of infectious agent and the jets that create the aerosol can damage the agent being aerosolized. These factors can impact agent infectivity and virulence as well as study reproducibility. We compared the Aeroneb, a vibrating-mesh nebulizer, to the existing ‘gold standard’ Collison nebulizer for generation of small particle aerosols containing either a bacterium, F. tularensis, or a virus, influenza. Aerosol performance was assessed by comparing the ratio between the aerosol concentration of an agent and the concentration of the agent in the nebulizer (the spray factor, or SF). Initial aerosols focused on evaluating the Aeroneb and the Collison nebulizer using a nose-only tower. For F. tularensis the Aeroneb achieved a SF of 5.34x10-6 while the Collison achieved 1.69x10-6. The Aeroneb similarly achieved a better SF than the Collison with a seasonal influenza virus (4.1x10-6 vs 1.1x10-6, respectively). The Aeroneb also achieved a higher relative humidity in a whole-body chamber. This suggests that the Aeroneb may be a superior choice to the ‘gold standard’ Collison for use in the aerosolization of infectious agents, particularly in studies where a high concentration of an infectious agent is needed to achieve a desired inhaled dose in an animal. We are continuing to evaluate other parameters and other pathogenic agents to compare the two nebulizers and this data will be presented.