Design and evaluation of a new device for fungal spore aerosolization for laboratory applications
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Agranovski, Igor E
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Abstract
Fungi havesignificanthealtheffectsvaryingfromseriousallergicreactionsfrominhalationto toxic effectsandevenfatalinfections.Indoorandoutdoorsamplingmayidentifypotentially contaminated environments,butsamplingtechniquesneedrefiningtosetrisklevelsregarding occupational exposureortoassessandanalysesuddenoutbreaksoffungi.Aslittleisknown of thesporulationanddispersaldynamicsoffungi,wehaveexperimentedwithaerosolizing fungal sporesfromculturesgrowninstandard9cmPetridishesfor3-10husinganewdevice that incorporatesvibration.Weevaluatedtheeffectoftheairflowandfrequencyonaquan- tity andpatternofsporesaerosolized.Frequencyhadpositive,negativeornoeffect.Positive quantitative effectswerenotedin Aspergillus versicolor at 50Hz,in Aspergillus niger at 400Hz and at100-400Hzin Rhizopus. Aerosolizationof Aspergillus species droppedsignificantlyin the first20minandthenstabilisedfor2.5-3h.Afterthistimeperiod,thegenerationprocess became highlyunstablewithlargequantitiesofsmallparticlesproduced.Itcouldbeexplained by appearanceofcracksonthenutrientsurfaceduetodesiccationwithcorrespondingrelease of particlesofnutrienttotheaircarrier.For Rhizopus, theinitialsteepdecreaseinparticle generation forthefirst20minoftheprocesswasfollowedbyquitestablesporeproductionfor the following10hofprocessoperation.Therewerenocracksobservedonthenutrientsurface for theentire10hoperationofthedevice.Theairflowalsoaffectstheefficiencyofthespore release. Itwasfoundthatincreaseintheairflowwasassociatedwithmoreefficientsporulation from thenutrientdish.Ontheotherhand,thesizedistributioncurveoftheairbornespores produced athigherairflowswascorrespondinglyslightlyshiftedtowardslargersizes,which is relatedtolessefficientlooseningofsporesandcorrespondingincreaseinconcentrationof clumps consistingofmorethanonespore.Also,itwasfoundthatincubationoffungalcultures for extendedperiods(2-6weeks)ledtowardsproductionoflargernumbersofairbornefungal spores.
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Journal of Aerosol Science
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40
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10
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Physical chemistry
Atmospheric sciences
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering not elsewhere classified