title: Improvement of the CULTEX®exposure technology by radial distribution of the test aerosol.
abstract: The exposure of cellular based systems cultivated on microporous membranes at the air-liquid interface (ALI) has been accepted as an appropriate approach to simulate the exposure of cells of the respiratory tract to native airborne substances. The efficiency of such an exposure procedure with regard to stability and reproducibility depends on the optimal design at the interface between the cellular test system and the exposure technique. The actual exposure systems favor the dynamic guidance of the airborne substances to the surface of the cells in specially designed exposure devices. Two module types, based on a linear or radial feed of the test atmosphere to the test system, were used for these studies. In our technical history, the development started with the linear designed version, the CULTEX®glass modules, fulfilling basic requirements for running ALI exposure studies (Mohr and Durst, 2005). The instability in the distribution of different atmospheres to the cells caused us to create a new exposure module, characterized by a stable and reproducible radial guidance of the aerosol to the cells. The outcome was the CULTEX®RFS (Mohr et al., 2010). In this study, we describe the differences between the two systems with regard to particle distribution and deposition clarifying the advantages and disadvantages of a radial to a linear aerosol distribution concept.
authors.affiliation: Cultex Laboratories GmbH, Feodor-Lynen-Str. 21, 30625 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: m.aufderheide@cultex-laboratories.com.
authors.forename: Michaela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aufderheide
authors.affiliation: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Economics, Econometrics and Statistics, Blücherstr. 17, 76185 Karlsruhe, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolf-Dieter
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Heller
authors.affiliation: Cultex Laboratories GmbH, Feodor-Lynen-Str. 21, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Olaf
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Krischenowski
authors.affiliation: Cultex Laboratories GmbH, Feodor-Lynen-Str. 21, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Niklas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Möhle
authors.affiliation: Vor der Hardt 16, 57392 Oberkirchen, Germany.
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hochrainer
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D019570:Inhalation Exposure
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols
keywords: Air-liquid-interface; CULTEX(®) RFS; Deposition efficiency; Inhalation exposure systems