DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2020.503230 

Authors
Thorne D¹, Hollings M², Kilford J², Clements J², Payne R², Ballantyne M², Dalrymple, A¹, Dillon, D¹, Meredith, C¹, Gaҫa, M^{1  
 
1} British American Tobacco, R&D, Southampton, Hampshire SO15 8TL, UK. 
² Covance Laboratories Ltd, Otely Road, Harrogate, HG1 PY, UK

Highlights

• An experimental concept of exposing L5178Y cells at the air-agar-interface
• Cells were lightly seeded on an agar surface to achieve exposure
• Flowing air, plating and recovery efficiencies from the agar-surface were investigated
• Positive controls were responsive, suggesting a clear cellular interaction with the agar-matrix 
• Cigarette smoke aerosol showed a dose-response relationship with increasing mutant frequencies

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¹Leverette R, ¹Keyser B, ²Seymour A and ²Hollings M
¹Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, RAI Services Company, Winston-Salem, NC 27101
²Covance Laboratories Ltd, Otley Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 1PY, UK

• Freshly generated whole smoke from the 3R4F reference cigarette (HCI; TPM) and aerosol from either a commercially available THP (HCI; glycerol) or ENDS (CRM81; glycerol) were delivered consistently within the Vitrocell® AMES 48 High Throughput exposure module.
• Coefficients of variation (CV) for whole smoke/aerosol deposition within each dose (row) were < 20% (3R4F; TPM) and < 15% (THP and ENDS; glycerol).
• Overall, the data presented demonstrate the consistent delivery of whole smoke/aerosol under controlled conditions and a reproducible in vitro biological response (Ames) with the Vitrocell® AMES 48 High Throughput exposure module. HCI 3R4F whole smoke exposures do require additional range finding experiments for optimization.
• Ames activity of 3R4F whole smoke, when generated under similar conditions, was comparable when using either the Vitrocell® AMES 48 High Throughput exposure module or the Vitrocell® Standard exposure modules (Figure 6).
• The Vitrocell® AMES 48 exposure module is a useful tool to increase sample throughput for the in vitro toxicological assessment of freshly generated whole smoke and aerosols from different tobacco product types (combustible, THP and ENDS). The AMES 48 module allows 7 smoke/aerosol doses (with 6 cultures per dose) per exposure versus only 2 (HCI) - 4 (ISO) doses (with 3 cultures per dose) for the standard exposure modules (when using a VC10® smoking machine).

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Following the VITROCELL® User Group Meeting 2018 in San Antonio, Texas, USA, international scientists from Europe, Japan, Korea and USA reconvened in March 2019.

The informal event organized into short presentations and posters was followed by open discussions. It was an excellent opportunity to discuss the latest developments of VITROCELL®, to exchange your experience in working with the equipment and to meet other fellow researchers.
The meeting took place prior to the international Society of Toxicology 58th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, March 10 – 14, 2018, in Baltimore, USA - one of the largest international conferences related to toxicology.

Focus of the event was to share VITROCELL® activities since the last meeting, to exchange latest research results, to give an update on VITROCELL’s participation in major research programs as well as the presentation of new products for 2019.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxrep.2018.04.003

Kathy Fowler^a, Wanda Fields^a, Victoria Hargreaves^b, Lesley Reeve^b, Betsy Bombick^a,
^a RAI Services Company, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, 401 North Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101, USA2
^b Covance Laboratories Ltd., North Yorkshire, UK

The article shows the successfull qualification of the Vitrocell VC10 smoking robot. The robot was used to  expose bacterial cells to cigarette whole smoke generated from 3R4F reference cigarettes and Eclipse cigarettes. A comparison was made between whole smoke from a tobacco heating and a combustible cigarette.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2018.01.008

D. Thorne^a, M. Hollings^b, A. Seymour^b, J. Adamson^a, A. Dalrymple^a, M. Ballantyne^b, M. Gaca^a

^a British American Tobacco, R&D, Southampton, Hampshire, SO15 8TL, UK
^b Covance Laboratories Ltd., Otley Road, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG3 1PY, UK

This study investigated the in vitro mutagenicity of e-cigarettes and designed a study to deliver e-cigarette aerosol on an undiluted per puff basis under extreme testing conditions, using the Ames assay across a broader range of bacterial tester strains. The Vitrocell VC 10 smoking robot, previously used to generate and dilute cigarette smoke aerosols was modified to enable the testing of an undiluted e-cigarette aerosol.

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