The PETA International Science Consortium Ltd. is donating $50,000 in equipment to the Institute for In Vitro Sciences (IIVS), a nonprofit laboratory in Gaithersburg that conducts and develops animal-free test methods. IIVS will use the VITROCELL® Cloud inhalation exposure system—instead of animals—to assess the effects of substances on the human respiratory tract.

Read more

Weber P. ¹, Chary A.^1,2, Saibene M. ¹, Serchi T.1, Cambier S.¹ , Moschini E.¹, Contal S.¹, Hennen J.², Ezendam J.³, Blömeke B.², Gutleb A.C.^1
1 Environmental Research and Innovation (ERIN) Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Luxembourg. 
² Department of Environmental Toxicology, Trier University, Germany.
³Centre for Environmental Protection, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), The Netherlands.

The Aim of this study is the adaptation of a 3D-co-culture system previously developed by Klein et al.2013. Inclusion of dendritic cells to study respiratory sensitization processes and identification and evaluation of markers to assess the respiratory sensitizing potential of inhaled compounds.

Read more

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.

Read more

DOI:10.14573/altex.1901241

Aline Chary^1,2, Tommaso Serchi¹, Elisa Moschini¹, Jennifer Hennen², Sébastien Cambier¹, Janine Ezendam³, Brunhilde Blömeke² and Arno C. Gutleb^1
1Department of Environmental Research and Innovation, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, Luxembourg; 
²Department of Environmental Toxicology, University Trier, Germany; 
³Centre for Health Protection, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, The Netherlands

The Vitrocell® Cloud-6 system was used for the exposure of a coculture in vitro model to test compounds and vehicle controls. The 3D in vitro model was cultured at the air liquid interface consists of A549, EA.hy926, PMA-differentiated THP-1 and non-differentiated THP-1 cells, that were exposed to nebulized chemical respiratory sensitizers. The results are shown in flow cytometry measurements, cytokine release and gene expression.

Read more

DOI: 10.2217/nnm-2017-0358

Savvina Chortarea^1,2, Kleanthis Fytianos^1,3,4, Laura Rodriguez-Lorenzo¹, Alke Petri-Fink^1,5 & Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser^1
1BioNanomaterials, Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland
²Laboratory for Particles – Biology Interactions, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials, Science & Technology, St Gallen, Switzerland
³Department of Pulmonary Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
⁴Department of Clinical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
⁵Department of Chemistry, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, Switzerland

The distribution and impact of aerosol-delivered functionalized AuNPs upon repeated administration were explored in a complex in vitro human lung epithelial tissue barrier model applying an air–liquid interface exposure approach. Nanoparticles were aerosolized using the Air-Liquid Interface system consisting of a nebulizer, an exposure and an incubation chamber connected to an air-flow system to provide optimum conditions for cell cultivation as well as a quartz crystal microbalance for online measurements of the NP dose deposited on the cells surface.

Read more