Aufderheide M, Mohr U
Institute of Experimental Pathology, Hannover Medical School, Germany.
Exp Toxicol Pathol. 2000 Jun;52(3):265-70. doi: 10.1016/S0940-2993(00)80044-5.
The assessment of cytotoxicity of air contaminants such as gaseous or particulate compounds and complex mixtures has traditionally involved animal experiments, due to the difficulties in exposing cell cultures directly to these substances. New cultivation and exposure techniques enhance the efficiency of in vitro studies, as demonstrated by a new experimental system called CULTEX which allows direct exposure of cells at the air/liquid interface. In this case, human bronchial epithelial cells are cultivated on porous transwell membranes in a device allowing intermittent medium supply. The medium is pumped into a special modular culture unit through the transwell membrane supporting the cells. At certain time intervals, the medium is completely removed and the cells can be maintained and exposed at the air/liquid interface until the next medium supply without loss of viability. In comparison to conventional submersed culture conditions, the cells have been grown on transwell membranes using the new pulse submersion technique. There are no deleterious effects on cell viability due to the direct exposure to airborne pollutants. Thus, the introduction of these new cultivation and exposure techniques offers new testing strategies for the toxicological evaluation of inhalable soluble and inert substances as well as complex mixtures.
传统上，由于难以将细胞培养物直接暴露于气态或颗粒状化合物及复杂混合物等空气污染物中，对其细胞毒性的评估一直依赖动物实验。新的培养和暴露技术提高了体外研究的效率，一种名为CULTEX的新实验系统就证明了这一点，该系统允许细胞在气液界面直接暴露。在这种情况下，人支气管上皮细胞在多孔Transwell膜上培养，培养装置可间歇性供应培养基。培养基通过支撑细胞的Transwell膜泵入特殊的模块化培养单元。在特定的时间间隔，培养基被完全去除，细胞可以在气液界面维持并暴露，直到下一次供应培养基，而不会丧失活力。与传统的浸没培养条件相比，细胞已使用新的脉冲浸没技术在Transwell膜上生长。直接暴露于空气传播的污染物对细胞活力没有有害影响。因此，这些新的培养和暴露技术的引入为可吸入的可溶性和惰性物质以及复杂混合物的毒理学评估提供了新的测试策略。
