Date of Graduation
5-2024
Document Type
UAF Access Only - Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering
Degree Level
Undergraduate
Department
Biomedical Engineering
Advisor/Mentor
Balachandran, Kartik
Abstract
Particles of pollutants commonly found in the air we breathe are known to have a multitude of chronic, debilitating, and sometimes deadly health effects on humans (1,2,3). Trends show that air pollution is worsening - data collected from more than 3,000 cities indicated that air pollution increased by 8% from 2017-2022 - a short span of only five years (5). Particulate matter, or PM, is normally defined as solid particles or liquid droplets present in the air and is classified based on size (3). PM exposure has been linked to a host of negative respiratory effects including bronchial hyperreactivity, respiratory infections, hospitalizations, development of asthma, and impaired development of lung function in children (1,2,3). Decades of research have been performed to study the respiratory consequences of human industrialization, with some recent studies focused on the effects of PM. While much has been discovered about the diseases and conditions caused by pollution, there is still little known about the cellular mechanisms by which they occur. Current research at the University of Arkansas is seeking to bridge this gap, and is focusing on the effects of PM, on nasal epithelial cells using cutting-edge techniques. The nasal organ-on-chip project by the Mechanobiology and Soft Materials Laboratory promises to make vital contributions to this research by discovering the effects of imitation PM on human nasal epithelial cells. We present here progress made on a bilateral flow system designed to expose in a highly controlled manner the nasal organ on chip device with aerosolized PM. First, we achieved a steady aerosolization system and validated its ability to aerosolize microscopic particles and deposit them onto surfaces either perpendicular or parallel to airflow. We were then able to combine the aerosol generating system with a bilateral flow system, and further demonstrated the ability to deposit aerosolized particles onto the chip in physiologically relevant bilateral flow. We found that the effect of exposure time on the number of particles deposited onto the chip was positively correlated, and that there was a linear relationship between the concentration of particle solution (before aerosolization) on the number of particles deposited on the chip, both from the aerosol generation system alone in singular flow and in the bilateral flow with physiological specifications. We achieved a range in deposition of the number of beads hypothesized to be pathologically effective (2,000 to 8,000 beads) was achieved, however, decreases in the system vent size and humidity levels were found to have a profound negative impact on bead count. This project successfully developed a physiologically relevant bilateral aerosol flow system, which, pending minor modifications, will be used to expose human nasal epithelial cells to imitation PM on a novel organ-on-chip.
Keywords
organ-on-chip; pollution; particulate matter; nasal; respiratory; airflow
Citation
Lakey, A., Walls, A., & Balachandran, K. (2024). Validation and Optimization of Aerosolized Particle Delivery in a Nasal Airway-on-Chip Model. Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/bmeguht/148
