In Vitro Exposure Systems and Bioassays for the Assessment of Toxicity of Nanoparticles to the Human Lung

Abstract

The rapid development of nanotechnology requires the production of nanoparticles which are found in numerous novel products. To reduce the number of animal tests during the assessment of lung toxicity of airborne nanoparticles in vitro exposure systems and lung specific bioassays have been developed. The reproducible application of bioassays for exposure of lung cells at the air-liquid interface promises a higher efficiency and cost reductions in toxicological testing. Despite significant progress of the exposure technology and fundamentals of bioassays a stringent validation of the in vitro versus in vivo tests is still lacking.

Exposure of aerosols and nanoparticle dispersions to in vitro cell cultures: A review on the dose relevance of size, mass, surface and concentration

“…Therefore, additional steps towards mimicking the in vivo exposure have to be taken. In the case of combustion-derived nanoparticles such as diesel soot (Kittelson, 1998), in vitro air-exposure systems are well established (Aufderheide and Mohr, 2000;Gasser et al, 2009;Holder, Lucas, Goth-Goldstein, and Koshland, 2008;Knebel, Ritter, and Aufderheide, 2002;Lestari, Markovic, Green, Chattopadhyay, and Hayes, 2006;Paur, Mulhopt, Weiss, and Diabate, 2008;Seagrave et al, 2007;Tippe, Heinzmann, and Roth, 2002). In addition air-liquid exposure systems for engineered nanoparticles have been very recently developed (Brandenberger et al, 2010;Lenz et al, 2009).…”

In-vitro cell exposure studies for the assessment of nanoparticle toxicity in the lung—A dialog between aerosol science and biology

“…Most of the methods described in the literature are in-house systems, but there are also commercially available systems like the CULTEX s exposure technology (Cultex Laboratories GmbH) and the VitroCell system Paur et al, 2008).…”

An improved 3D tetraculture system mimicking the cellular organisation at the alveolar barrier to study the potential toxic effects of particles on the lung

“…Due to interactions with medium components, such as serum proteins, the exposure of cells to particles under submerged conditions generally cannot properly reflect the exposure conditions of the alveolar epithelium in vivo [30]. A more realistic assessment of effects can be achieved by exposing cells at the air-liquid-interface to an aerosol of particles under controlled conditions [31-34], that would also allow better dosimetry [35]. …”