For reliable aerosol exposure of cell cultures using 12- or 24-well sized inserts

The VITROCELL® 12/12 module system has been designed to facilitate the exposure of mammalian cell cultures to airborne substances such as gases, complex mixtures, nanoparticles and fibers. It features a throughput of 3 dilution steps @ 3 replicates and 1 clean air control at 3 replicates. In order to optimize the exposure for liquid aerosols and to maximize the performance of humidified air supply it is now also available in a user-friendly climatic chamber.

VITROCELL® 12/12 now available with Climatic Chamber

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https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-020-00517-7

Xuefei Cao¹, Jayme P. Coyle², Rui Xiong¹, Yiying Wang¹, Robert H. Heflich¹, Baiping Ren¹, William M. Gwinn³, Patrick Hayden⁴, Liying Rojanasakul²

¹ Division of Genetic and Molecular Toxicology, National Center for Toxicological Research, US Food and Drug Administration, 3900 NCTR Rd., AR Jefferson, USA
² Allergy and Clinical Immunology Branch, Health Effects Laboratory Division, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers forDisease Control and Prevention,Morgantown,WV, USA
³ Division of the National Toxicology Program, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Durham, NC, USA
⁴ BioSurfaces Inc., Ashland, MA, USA

One important element for validating any new assay for making regulatory decisions is determining its performance relative to an accepted standard. Conducting in vivo inhalation toxicity studies using whole-body or nose-only exposure systems is expensive and time-consuming and typically requires a large number of animals. The goal of using alternative methods, like human in vitro ALI airway cultures, ultimately is to replace inhalation toxicity testing in animals with in vitro approaches. Transition from animal- to human-based models is ultimately expected to lead to faster and better predictive toxicity assessments and therapeutic development at lower cost.  This study shows the development and validation of alternative in vitro methods for acute toxicity testing, including acute inhalation toxicity testing.
 

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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/10.1016/j.mrgentox.2020.503135

Authors
StefanPfuhler^a, Janvan Benthem^b, RodgerCurren^c, Shareen H.Doak^d, MariaDusinska^e, MakotoHayashi^f, Robert H.Heflich^g, DarrenKidd^h, DavidKirklandⁱ, YangLuan^j, GladysOuedraogo^k, KerstinReisinger^l, ToshioSofuni^m, Frédériquevan Ackerⁿ, YingYang^o, RaffaellaCorvi^p
a Procter and Gamble, Mason Business Centre, Mason, OH, USA
^b National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Health Protection, Bilthoven, the Netherlands
^c Institute for In Vitro Sciences, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD, USA
^d Swansea University Medical School, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, Wales, UK
^e Health Effects Laboratory, Department of Environmental Chemistry, NILU-Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller, Norway
^f makoto international consulting, Ebina, Japan
^g U.S. Food and Drug Administration/National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, AR, USA
^h Covance Laboratories Ltd, Otley Road, Harrogate, HG3 1PY, UK
ⁱ Kirkland Consulting, PO Box 79, Tadcaster, LS24 0AS, UK
^j School of Public Health, Hongqiao International Institute of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, 200025, PR China
^k L’Oréal R&I, Aulnay-sous-bois, France
^l Henkel AG & Co KGaA, Duesseldorf, Germany
^m Formerly National Institute of Health Sciences, Tokyo, Japan
ⁿ Triskelion B.V., Zeist, the Netherlands
^o Guangdong Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Guangzhou, PR China
^p European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy

Highlights
• Extensive progress made in development of 3D organ-based genotoxicity assays.
• 3D culture models represent major exposure routes: dermal, oral, inhalation.
• The 3D skin comet and MN assays are considered mature and sufficiently validated.
• Liver and airway model-based genotoxicity assays show promise but are at early stage.<

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxrep.2019.10.011

Brian M. Keyser^a, Robert Leverette^a, Michael Hollings^b, Adam Seymour^b, Lesley Reeve^b, Wanda Fields^a
a RAI Services Company, Scientific & Regulatory Affairs, 401 North Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC, 27101, USA1
^b Covance Laboratories Ltd., North Yorkshire, UK

Highlights
• Investigation of dose-determining methods using the Vitrocell® VC10® system.
• Dose assessment using Quartz Crystal Microbalances (QCM) and aerosol photometers.
• Dose assessment using fluorescence of DMSO-captured smoke constituents.
• QCM, photometer AUC, and DMSO-captured matter were consistent and reproducible

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