DOI:10.1016/j.tiv.2015.05.018
Authors
Louise Neilsona, Courtney Mankusb, David Thornea, George Jacksonb, Jason DeBayb, Clive Mereditha
a British American Tobacco, Group Research and Development, Regents Park Road, Southampton, Hampshire SO15 8TL, United Kingdom
b MatTek Corporation, 200 Homer Avenue, Ashland, MA 01721, United States
The presentation of a new highly differentiated 3D airway culture, grown and exposed in the VITROCELL® system, shows an successful compatibility of the tissue and the VITROCELL® system for testing e-cigarettes. The results are shown with the MTT assay for cell viability and measurement of TEER.
Abstract
Development of physiologically relevant test methods to analyse potential irritant effects to the respiratory tract caused by e-cigarette aerosols is required. This paper reports the method development and optimisation of an acute in vitro MTT cytotoxicity assay using human 3D reconstructed airway tissues and an aerosol exposure system. The EpiAirway™ tissue is a highly differentiated in vitro human airway culture derived from primary human tracheal/bronchial epithelial cells grown at the air–liquid interface, which can be exposed to aerosols generated by the VITROCELL® smoking robot. Method development was supported by understanding the compatibility of these tissues within the VITROCELL® system, in terms of airflow (L/min), vacuum rate (mL/min) and exposure time. Dosimetry tools (QCM) were used to measure deposited mass, to confirm the provision of e-cigarette aerosol to the tissues. EpiAirway™ tissues were exposed to cigarette smoke and aerosol generated from two commercial e-cigarettes for up to 6 h. Cigarette smoke reduced cell viability in a time dependent manner to 12% at 6 h. E-cigarette aerosol showed no such decrease in cell viability and displayed similar results to that of the untreated air controls. Applicability of the EpiAirway™ model and exposure system was demonstrated, showing little cytotoxicity from e-cigarette aerosol and different aerosol formulations when compared directly with reference cigarette smoke, over the same exposure time.
