Gaithersburg, Md. – The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd., Imperial Brands PLC, Altria Client Services (ALCS), British American Tobacco (BAT) PLC, and Philip Morris International Inc have joined together to donate equipment that can help to replace the use of animals in respiratory testing with more human-relevant, non-animal test methods.

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2018.05.004

Shinkichi Ishikawa∗, Kazushi Matsumura, Nobumasa Kitamura, Kanae Ishimori, Yuichiro Takanami, Shigeaki Ito

The experimental setup for the aerosol exposure consisted of a VC 10 smoking robot, a dilution system, and a Vitrocell 12/3 glass module the exposure of nicotine and TPM in the mainstream aerosols from 3R4F and novel tobacco vapor on MucilAir™ cells. The results are shown in cytotoxicity, IL-8, IL-1ß and gene expression.

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DOI: 10.1089/aivt.2018.0001
Holger Behrsing,¹ Mario Aragon,¹ Jason Adamson,² Devin Sheehan,¹ Marianna Gaca,² Rodger Curren,¹ and Erin Hill^1
1Respiratory Toxicology, Institute for In Vitro Sciences, Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland.
²R&D, British American Tobacco, Southampton, United Kingdom.

The study shows an assessment of VC1 aerosol generation that was conducted by measuring puff-by-puff in vitro nicotine concentration of 3R4F cigarettes (ISO and HCI regimes), e-cigarette (CRM81 puffing profile), and THP (HCIm regime). The aerosols were applied to in vitro or ex vivo cellular and tissue systems that model the respiratory tract, such as reconstructed human airways (RHuA), which are grown at the air–liquid interface (ALI). Additionally a comparison between the Vitrocell VC1 (U.S. Laboratory) and the VC10 (UK Laboratory) Smoking Robot was done.

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D. Sheehan¹, M. Aragon¹, J. Adamson², M. Gaca², H. Raabe¹, and H. Behrsing¹.
¹Institute for In Vitro Sciences, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD; and 2British American Tobacco, Southampton, United Kingdom.

This study demonstrates successful Vitrocell VC1 aerosol generation and delivery across multiple nicotine product categories (3R4F cigarette smoke, e-liquid and THP), as characterised using nicotine as a dosimetry marker. The data suggests the VC1 can reproducibly generate and deliver tobacco product and NGP aerosols for future in vitro assessment and matches the performance of reported exposure systems.

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Lukasz Czekala¹, Matthew Stevenson¹, Liam Simms¹, Nicole Tschierske¹, Anna G. Maione², Tanvir Walele^3
1 Imperial Tobacco Ltd, 121 Winterstoke Road, Bristol, BS3 2LL UK
² MatTek, 200 Homer Ave., Ashland, MA, USA
³ Fontem Ventures B.V., an Imperial Brands PLC Company, Radarweg60, 1043 NT Amsterdam

A 3D in vitro organotypic model of the human respiratory epithelium was cultured at the Air-Liquid Interface (ALI) and exposed to cigarette smoke and e-cigarette aerosol, generated by using a VITROCELL® VC1 smoking machine under Health Canada Intense and CORESTA conditions.
The results are shown in tissue viability (MTT), barrier integrity (TEER), Barrier function, tissue secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and IL-8). The presence of 8-isoprostane is used as an indicator of oxidative stress and antioxidant deficiency. Additionally the tissue morphology was assessed by H&E staining and immunofluorescent staining was conducted for specific markers.

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