Full Body Exposure System

The Inhalation Exposure System provides reproducible animal exposure to droplet-borne contaminants and infectious agents. It also produces deep-lung infections that more closely simulate real-world circumstances.

The system allows you to vary the concentration of airborne pathogens, the rate of air flow, and the length of exposure, so experiments can be reproduced accurately and adjusted easily. UV lamps and an air incinerator for decontamination provide additional protection in the lab.

A typical application for the Inhalation Exposure System

In a typical experiment for tuberculosis research, the basket is filled with mice, placed in the tank, and the lid is secured to the chamber. Tubercule bacilli are suspended in a solution of 0.1% bovine albumin fraction V and 0.1% Tween-80 and placed in the nebulizer-venturi unit. The air pressure and vacuum controls are adjusted for proper flow: approximately 5 liter/min. for the compressed air and 28 liters/min. (1 cfm) for the main air flow.

The droplets are dried to droplet nuclei before reaching the infection chamber and form an ambient cloud. This cloud is allowed to build up for approximately 30 minutes and then to decay for 30 minutes with the nebulization stopped. The size of the droplet is approximately 2 to 5 microns. The bacilli are deposited in the alveolar spaces and cause lesions on the surface of the lungs.

The cloud is uniform throughout the chamber since animals of the same size develop approximately the same number of lesions. The infection is quantitative, depending on the number of infecting organisms in the nebulizer fluid and the minute breathing volume of the animal.

Before opening the chamber, decontamination of the fur and chamber is accomplished by air washing for 15 minutes with the ultraviolet lamps on.

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