Abstract
To mimic in vivo condition for exposure to gaseous compounds, we employed the Air-Liquid Interface Culture (ALIC) of a human bronchial epithelial cell line, Calu-3, and developed a simple batch-type closed system for direct gas exposure. This system enabled relatively simple cytoxicity evaluation of various gaseous chemicals in an in vivo mimicking manner. As a preliminary evaluation of the system developed, we tested the toxicity expression of Calu-3 to benzene, tetrachloroethylene and acetone gases in terms of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release during 48 hours of the loading. The toxicity in ALIC exposure was higher than that in conventional exposure in the liquid phase. The reason was largely explained by numerical estimation that chemical concentrations exactly on the cell surface in the liquid culture is lower in such acute phase exposure than that in ALIC culture, in the cause of the diffusion process of molecules in the surface liquid layer. These results indicate that basic concept of the combination of ALIC of lung cells and a simple batch-type closed system is promising as a cytotoxicity test of wide ranges of gaseous compounds or samples.
