Aerosol delivery of mammalian cells for tissue engineering.

We developed a two fluid atomizer to spray mammalian cells suspended in phosphate buffered saline (PBS)-Pluronic F-127 polymer solutions. We used the device to spray suspensions of bovine articular chondrocytes and porcine tracheal epithelial cells, in either PBS or the polymer solutions, and studied their viability and growth kinetics. Under the operating conditions examined in this study, the cells had better than 70% viability after spraying, the growth rates were comparable to cells that were not sprayed, and the appearance of the cells at confluence was normal.