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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https://doi.org/10.1186/s12989-020-00376-w

Yaobo Ding^1,2 , Patrick Weindl1,2,3, Anke-Gabriele Lenz^1,2, Paula Mayer^1,2, Tobias Krebs³ and Otmar Schmid^1,2
1Institute of Lung Biology and Disease, Helmholtz Zentrum München, 85764 Neuherberg, Germany
²Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Munich (CPC-M) - Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), 81377 Munich, Germany
³VITROCELL Systems GmbH, 79183 Waldkirch, Germany.

This study provides evidence that QCMs are suitable for real-time dosimetry in particle toxicology studies with cell cultures under air-liquid interface conditions. An experimental method for determination of LoD (lower limit of detection), accuracy and precision of QCMs using a fluorescent tracer (fluorescein salt) was presented and applied to the QCMs integrated in the VITROCELL® Cloud 6 and Cloud 12 aerosol-cell exposure systems.

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doi:10.3390/ijms21155335

Hana Barosova ^1,2 , Bedia Begum Karakocak ¹ , Dedy Septiadi ¹ , Alke Petri-Fink ^1,3, Vicki Stone ⁴ and Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser ¹,
¹ BioNanomaterials Group, Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, 
² Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 142 20 Prague, Czech Republic
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland
⁴ Institute of Biological Chemistry, Biophysics and Bioengineering, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK

The in vitro co-culture model consisting of three human cell lines were exposed at the ALI using the VITROCELL® Cloud system, equiped with QCM allowing to measure and record the deposited dose online. The nebulizer was ideal for the aerosols to suffciently mix within the entire chamber, hence resulting in uniform droplet deposition. This study shows, that this model is not limited to testing potentially hazardous nanomaterials to human cell line co-culture models.

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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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https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.9b06860

Autors
Barosova H¹, Maione AG², Septiadi D¹, Sharma M³, Haeni L¹, Balog S¹, O'Connell O², Jackson GR², Brown D⁴, Clippinger AJ³, Hayden P^2,5, Petri-Fink A^1,6, Stone V⁴, Rothen-Rutishauser B¹.

¹ Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Chemin des Verdiers 4, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
² MatTek Corporation, 200 Homer Avenue, Ashland, Massachusetts 01721, United States.
³ PETA International Science Consortium Ltd., 8 All Saints Street, London N1 9RL, U.K.
⁴ Nano-Safety Research Group, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, U.K.
⁵ BioSurfaces, Inc., 200 Homer Ave, Ashland, Massachusetts 01721, United States.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 9, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.

This study characterizes a 3D in vitro alveolar tissue model comprised entirely of primary human cells to investigate its ability to predict pulmonary fibrosis. The study demonstrated that the EpiAlveolar model recapitulates relevant lung phenotypes and functions and is stable at VITROCELL Cloud with repeated exposures over 3 weeks. 

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