Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Indoor Air. 2011 Apr;21(2):110-20. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0668.2010.00685.x. Epub 2011 Feb 1.
We recently developed an electrostatic precipitator with superhydrophobic surface (EPSS), which collects particles into a 10- to 40-μl water droplet allowing achievement of very high concentration rates (defined as the ratio of particle concentration in the collection liquid vs. the airborne particle concentration per time unit) when sampling airborne bacteria. Here, we analyzed the performance of this sampler when collecting three commonly found fungal spores--Cladosporium cladosporioides, Penicillium melinii, and Aspergillus versicolor--under different operating conditions. We also adapted adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-based bioluminescence for the analysis of collection efficiency and the concentration rates. The collection efficiency ranged from 10 to 36% at a sampling flow rate of 10 l/min when the airborne fungal spore concentration was approximately 10(5)-10(6) spores/m(3) resulting in concentration rates in the range of 1 × 10(5)-3 × 10(5)/min for a 10-μl droplet. The collection efficiency was inversely proportional to the airborne spore concentration and it increased to above 60% for common ambient spore concentrations, e.g., 10(4)-10(5) spores/m(3). The spore concentrations determined by the ATP-based method were not statistically different from those determined by microscopy and allowed us to analyze spore concentrations that were too low to be reliably detected by microscopy.
The new electrostatic precipitator with superhydrophobic surface (EPSS) collects airborne fungal spores into small water droplets (10 and 40 μl) allowing achievement of concentration rates that are higher than those of most currently available bioaerosol samplers. Biosamplers with high concentration rates enable detection of low ambient aerial bioaerosol concentrations in various environments, including indoors air, and would be useful for improved exposure assessment. A successful adaptation of the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-based bioluminescence assay for the quantification of fungal spores from a specific species enables fast sample analysis in laboratory investigations. This rapid assay could be especially useful when investigating the performance of biological samplers as a function of multiple operational parameters.
我们最近开发了一种带有超疏水表面的静电沉淀器（EPSS），当采集空气中的细菌时，它可以将颗粒收集到 10-40μl 的水滴中，从而实现非常高的浓度率（定义为收集液中的颗粒浓度与单位时间内空气中的颗粒浓度之比）。在这里，我们分析了该采样器在不同操作条件下收集三种常见真菌孢子（枝孢菌、青霉和曲霉）时的性能。我们还采用了三磷酸腺苷（ATP）生物发光来分析收集效率和浓度率。当空气中真菌孢子浓度约为 10(5)-10(6)孢子/m(3)时，采样流速为 10l/min，收集效率范围为 10-36%，导致 10-μl 液滴的浓度率在 1×10(5)-3×10(5)/min 范围内。收集效率与空气中的孢子浓度成反比，对于常见的环境孢子浓度（例如 10(4)-10(5)孢子/m(3)），收集效率增加到 60%以上。基于 ATP 的方法确定的孢子浓度与显微镜确定的孢子浓度没有统计学差异，并且允许我们分析显微镜无法可靠检测到的低浓度孢子。
新型带有超疏水表面的静电沉淀器（EPSS）将空气中的真菌孢子收集到小水滴（10 和 40μl）中，实现了高于大多数现有生物气溶胶采样器的浓度率。高浓度率的生物采样器可以检测各种环境（包括室内空气）中的低环境空气生物气溶胶浓度，对于改进暴露评估将非常有用。成功地将三磷酸腺苷（ATP）生物发光测定法应用于特定物种真菌孢子的定量分析，使实验室研究中的样品快速分析成为可能。当研究生物采样器作为多个操作参数的函数的性能时，这种快速测定法可能特别有用。
