The assessment of toxicological effects of airborne particles to the human organism is of major importance in disease research. The presence of nano and ultrafine particles can be found both in indoor and outdoor atmospheres which include workplaces and living areas. Over the last years, the degree of contribution to diseases of such particles is analyzed ever more frequent by the use of in vitro methods. The required equipment for these studies consisting of aerosol generation and exposure systems are nowadays developed more and more to proven levels.

VITROCELL Application Note.

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In der Inhalationstherapie werden pharmazeutische Präparate als Aerosole auf Zellen des Atemtraktes im Nasen- oder Lungenbereich appliziert. Zur präklinischen Entwicklung neuer Arzneimittel werden dafür oft kommerziell erhältliche, physiologisch relevante in vitro Zellkulturmodelle des Nasen-, Rachen- oder Lungenepithels verwendet. In jüngster Zeit wurden diese Modelle verfeinert, um SARS-CoV-2 Infektionen nachzuahmen.

VITROCELL Anwendungshinweis.

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Sonja Mülhopt¹, Christoph Schlager², Markus Berger², Sivakumar Murugadoss³, Peter H. Hoet³, Tobias Krebs², Hanns-Rudolf paur¹ & Dieter Stapf^1
1Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Technical Chemistry, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, 76344, Germany. 
²Vitrocell Systems GmbH, Waldkirch, 79183, Germany. 
³KU Leuven, Environment and Health, Leuven, 3000, Belgium.

The surface dose and the spatial distribution on the membrane delivers important data for  measuring dose-response relationships in toxicity studies.  Image evaluation of transmission electron  microscopy (TEM) samples is a highly sensitive method for determination of deposition. This paper reports  the development and characterization of a novel holder for film coated TEM copper grids, which allows for  sampling under identical geometric and ambient conditions as in a cell culture chamber. 

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https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrestox.9b00489

Matthias Hufnagel, Sarah Schoch, Johanna WallBettina, Maria Strauch, Andrea Hartwig
Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Institute of Applied Biosciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Adenauerring 20a, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany

In this study an ALI exposure was combined with a high-throughput RT-qPCR approach to evaluate the toxicological potential nanoparticles in A549 cells.

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David H. Brandwein, F. Adam Bettmann, Michael P. DeLorme, Alan T. Eveland, Lawrence M. Milchak 
3M Corporate Toxicology and Environmental Science, St. Paul, MN
 

The STL is working to develop an in vitro screening ALI model to assess the acute respiratory irritation potential for new chemicals. These experiments examined multiple aspects of the model, including different cell culture systems (A549 and EpiAirway), different exposure methods (dynamic vapor and liquid phase), and different post exposure periods, all using acrolein as a model respiratory irritant. The goal was to better understand the critical parameters of the cell systems and exposure methods to enable the development of a consistent screening model, while gaining clarity of the dosimetry. 

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