Dr. Dirk Brossell
Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Unit 4.5, 10317 Berlin, Germany
The poster demonstrates the particle deposition via thermal precipitation (particle precipitation by thermophoresis) on cells hosted at the air-liquid interface (ALI).
Advantages of thermophoresis
• Diffusion-like mechanism, gentle particle deposition
• Independent from particle size (for nanoparticles)
• Homogenous deposition density profile
• No need to manipulate aerosol properties for deposition (charge, size)
Summary
• The commercial VITROCELL® CF 6/3 exposure module was modified to enable thermal precipitation of airborne nanoparticles for deposition on cells hosted at the air-liquid interface (ALI), a concept first developed for the Cyto-TP 111.
• The deposition efficiency and therefore the dose rate of nanoscale particles have been increased significantly, compared to the unmodified CF 6/3 module.
• No dose-dependent increase of the LDH level and secretion of IL-8 in A549 cell monolayers in comparison to the control cells was evident after the delivery of several doses of barium sulphate (BaSO4) nanoparticles.
• A slight dose-dependent increase of both toxicological endpoints was found after depositing cerium dioxide (Ce02) particles.
• This study of the new nanoparticle deposition concept demonstrates that thermal precipitation offers improved control over the exposure dose in in vitro inhalation toxicity studies.
