Regular leak tests are mandatory in aerosol research. A leak caused by a forgotten connection or defective o-ring may have a significant influence on the aerosol exposure process. We recommend to carry out a leak test prior to the experiment and as part of cleaning or service routine.

VITROCELL Application Note

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Smallest nebulization volumes and high deposition efficiency

The VITROCELL® Cloud Alpha MAX is designed for small nebulization volumes and very high deposition efficiency. This is important when only small quantities of material are available or when expensive test substances need to be tested.

VITROCELL® Cloud Alpha MAX – Ideal for small quantities of test substance

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11010065

Silvia Diabaté ¹, Lucie Armand ², Sivakumar Murugadoss ¹ , Marco Dilger ¹ , Susanne Fritsch-Decker ¹, Christoph Schlager ³, David Béal ², Marie-Edith Arnal ², Mathilde Biola-Clier ², Selina Ambrose ⁴, Sonja Mülhopt ³, Hanns-Rudolf Paur ³, Iseult Lynch ⁵ , Eugenia Valsami-Jones ⁵ , Marie Carriere ², and Carsten Weiss ¹

¹ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Biological and Chemical Systems–Biological Information Processing, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany;
² CEA, CNRS, IRIG, SyMMES, University Grenoble Alpes, 38054 Grenoble, France;
³ Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute for Technical Chemistry, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany; 
⁴ Promethean Particles Ltd., Nottingham NG7 3EF, UK;
⁵ School of Geography Earth & Environmental Sciences (GEES), University of Birmingham (UoB), Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK;

KIT, together with VITROCELL SYSTEMS, set up a first Automated Exposure Station, which has been used for the assessment of nanoscale particle emissions from combustion sources such as ship diesel and wood burners. The system was further developed and offers a compact solution for toxicity testing of nanoparticle (NP) aerosols including sample conditioning, reproducible deposition, integrated dose determination by a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), flow control, automated processes and data acquisition. The device was also tested with partner laboratories with the aim of potentially standardizing and achieving regulatory acceptance of the method.

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doi:10.3390/nano10122369

Lars B. Leibrock ¹, Harald Jungnickel ¹, Jutta Tentschert ¹, Aaron Katz ¹, Blaza Toman ² , Elijah J. Petersen ³ , Frank S. Bierkandt ¹, Ajay Vikram Singh ¹ , Peter Laux ¹ and Andreas Luch ^1
1 German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Chemical and Product Safety, Max-Dohrn-Strasse 8-10, 10589 Berlin, Germany; 
² Information Technology Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaitherburg, MD 20899-8311, USA; 
³ Materials Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaitherburg, MD 20899-8311, USA; 

ALI systems are considered to be a promising exposure system to study toxicological e ects of airborne nanomaterials instead of in vivo inhalation studies and have been widely used to assess the toxicology of nanomaterials in recent years. However, the robustness of these methods is not yet wellunderstood. Here we reported a C&E analysis of a commonly used flow through ALI exposure system.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.110350

Emeline Seurat ^a, Anthony Verdin ^b, Fabrice Cazier ^c, Dominique Courcot ^b, Richard Fitoussi ^d, Katell Vi´e ^d, Val´erie Desauziers ^e, Isabelle Momas ^a, Nathalie Seta ^a, Sophie Achard ^a
a Laboratoire de Sant´e Publique et Environnement, Hera “Health Environmental Risk Assessment”, Inserm UMR1153-CRESS (Centre de Recherche en Epid´emiologie et StatistiqueS), Universit´e de Paris, Facult´e de Pharmacie de Paris, 4, Avenue de L’Observatoire, 75006, Paris, France
^b Unit´e de Chimie Environnementale et Interactions sur le Vivant UR4492, SFR Condorcet FR CNRS 3417, Maison de La Recherche en Environnement Industriel 2, Universit´e Du Littoral Cˆote D’Opale, 189A Avenue Maurice Schumann, 59140, Dunkerque, France
^c Centre Commun de Mesures (CCM), Universit´e Du Littoral-Cˆote D’Opale, 145 Avenue Maurice Schumann, 5914, Dunkerque, France
^d Laboratoires Clarins, 5 Rue Amp`ere, 95300, Pontoise, France
^e IPREM, IMT Mines Ales, Universit´e de Pau et des Pays de L’Adour, E2S UPPA, CNRS, Pau, France

In the course of this study, they tested various pollutants with different chemical compositions, applying them to the apical side of Reconstructed Human Epidermis and being particularly interested in the effect relative humidity has on the reaction to pollutants. Investigating several cytokines and chemokines, they showed that IL-1α, IL-6, IL-8, and RANTES are the cytokines/chemokines almost systematically induced by most pollutants.

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