Kaur Kamaljeet, Overacker Dana, Ghandehari Hamidreza, Reilly Christopher, Paine Robert, Kelly Kerry E
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Utah.
Utah Center for Nanomedicine, Nano Institute of Utah, University of Utah.
J Aerosol Sci. 2021 Jan;151. doi: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2020.105653. Epub 2020 Sep 2.
In vitro studies are the first step toward understanding the biological effects of particulate matter. As a more realistic exposure strategy than submerged culture approaches, air-liquid interface (ALI) in vitro exposure systems are gaining interest. One challenge with ALI systems is determining accurate particle mass deposition. Although a few commercially available ALI systems are equipped with online mass deposition monitoring, most studies use indirect methods to estimate mass doses. These different indirect methods may contribute to inconsistencies in the results from in vitro studies of aerosolized nanoparticles. This study explored the effectiveness of using a commercially available Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) to estimate the real-time, particle-mass deposition inside an electrostatic, parallel-flow, ALI system. The QCM system required minor modifications, including custom-designed and fabricated headers. Three QCM systems were simultaneously placed in three of the six wells in the ALI exposure chamber to evaluate the uniformity of particle deposition. The measurements from fluorescein dosimetry and QCM revealed an uneven deposition between these six wells. The performance of the QCM system was also evaluated using two different methods. First, using fluorescein deposition in one well, depositions in three other wells were estimated, which was then compared to the actual QCM readings. Second, using the QCM measured deposition in one well, the deposition in three other wells was estimated and compared to deposition measured by fluorescein dosimetry. For both methods, the expected and actual deposition yields a linear fit with the slope ~1. This good fit suggests that QCM systems can be used to measure real-time mass deposition in an electrostatic ALI system.
体外研究是了解颗粒物生物学效应的第一步。作为一种比浸没培养方法更现实的暴露策略，气液界面（ALI）体外暴露系统正受到关注。ALI系统面临的一个挑战是确定准确的颗粒质量沉积。尽管一些市售的ALI系统配备了在线质量沉积监测装置，但大多数研究使用间接方法来估计质量剂量。这些不同的间接方法可能导致雾化纳米颗粒体外研究结果的不一致。本研究探讨了使用市售石英晶体微天平（QCM）来估计静电平行流ALI系统内实时颗粒质量沉积的有效性。QCM系统需要进行一些小的修改，包括定制设计和制造的集管。将三个QCM系统同时放置在ALI暴露室六个孔中的三个孔中，以评估颗粒沉积的均匀性。荧光素剂量测定法和QCM的测量结果显示这六个孔之间的沉积不均匀。还使用两种不同方法评估了QCM系统的性能。首先，利用一个孔中的荧光素沉积来估计其他三个孔中的沉积，然后将其与实际的QCM读数进行比较。其次，利用QCM测量的一个孔中的沉积来估计其他三个孔中的沉积，并与荧光素剂量测定法测量的沉积进行比较。对于这两种方法，预期沉积和实际沉积产生斜率约为1的线性拟合。这种良好的拟合表明QCM系统可用于测量静电ALI系统中的实时质量沉积。
