Deposition efficiency and uniformity of monodisperse solid particle deposition in the Vitrocell® 24/48 Air–Liquid-Interface <i>in vitro</i> exposure system
Creators: name: Oldham, Michael J.
name: Castro, Nicolas
name: Jingjie Zhang
name: Rostami, Ali
name: Lucci, Francesco
name: Yezdi Pithawalla
name: Kuczaj, Arkadiusz K.
name: I. Gene Gilman
name: Kosachevsky, Pasha
name: Hoeng, Julia
name: K. Monica Lee
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Biophysics
subject: Biochemistry
subject: Space Science
subject: 29999 Physical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: Medicine
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Pharmacology
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: 60506 Virology

description: A key to understanding biological response due to cell exposure to chemical constituents in aerosols is to accurately be able to determine the delivered dose. Deposition efficiency and uniformity of deposition was measured experimentally in the Vitrocell<sup>®</sup> 24/48 air–liquid-interface (ALI) <i>in vitro</i> exposure system using monodisperse solid fluorescent particles with mass median aerodynamic diameters (MMAD) of 0.51, 1.1, 2.2 and 3.3 µm. Experimental results were compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD; using both Lagrangian and Eulerian approaches) predicted deposition efficiency and uniformity for a single row (<i>N</i> = 6) of cell culture inserts in the Vitrocell<sup>®</sup> 24/48 system. Deposited fluorescent monodisperse particles were quantified using fluorescent microscopy and Image J software. Experiments were conducted using a suspension of two particle MMADs with each experiment being conducted a total of three times on different days. The average experimentally measured deposition efficiency ranged from a low of 0.013% for 0.51 µm MMAD particles to a maximum 0.86% for 3.3 µm MMAD particles. There was good agreement between the average experimentally measured and the CFD predicted particle deposition efficiency (regardless of approach) with agreement being slightly better at the smaller MMADs. Experimentally measured and CFD predicted average uniformity of deposition was &gt;45% of the mean and within 15% of the mean for 0.51 µm and 2.2 MMAD µm particles, respectively. Experimentally measured average uniformity of deposition was between 15 and 45% of the mean while CFD predictions were within 15% of the mean for 1.1 and 3.3 µm MMAD particles. The deposition efficiency and uniformity across the cell culture inserts for solid particles should be considered when designing exposure regimens using the Vitrocell<sup>®</sup> 24/48 ALI <i>in vitro</i> exposure system. Copyright © 2019 American Association for Aerosol Research