A new approach to deposit homogeneous samples of asbestos fibres for toxicological tests in vitro

Giancarlo Della Ventura; Ahmad Rabiee; Augusto Marcelli; Salvatore Macis; Annalisa D'Arco; Gianluca Iezzi; Francesco Radica; Federico Lucci

doi:10.3389/fchem.2023.1116463

A new approach to deposit homogeneous samples of asbestos fibres for toxicological tests in vitro

Front Chem. 2023 Feb 14:11:1116463. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1116463. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Giancarlo Della Ventura^{1

2

3}, Ahmad Rabiee¹, Augusto Marcelli^{2

4}, Salvatore Macis⁵, Annalisa D'Arco⁵, Gianluca Iezzi⁶, Francesco Radica⁶, Federico Lucci⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Science, Roma Tre University, Rome, Italy.
² INFN, National Institute of Nuclear Physics, Frascati, Italy.
³ INGV, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Rome, Italy.
⁴ RICMASS, Rome International Center for Materials Science Superstripes, Rome, Italy.
⁵ Department of Physics, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
⁶ Department of Engineering and Geology, University of Chieti, Rome, Italy.
⁷ Department of Earth and Geoenvironmental Sciences, University of Bari, Bari, Italy.

Abstract

In this paper we describe the results obtained with a novel method to prepare depositions of asbestos fibres for toxicological tests in vitro. The technique is based on a micro-dispenser, working as an inkjet printer, able to deposit micro-sized droplets from a suspension of fibres in a liquid medium; we used here a highly evaporating liquid (ethanol) to reduce the experimental time, however other solvents could be used. Both the amount and spatial distribution of fibres on the substrate can be controlled by adjusting the parameters of the micro-dispenser such as deposition area, deposition time, uniformity and volume of the deposited liquid. Statistical analysis of images obtained by optical and scanning electron microscopy shows that this technique produces an extremely homogeneous distribution of fibers. Specifically, the number of deposited single fibres is maximized (up to 20 times), a feature that is essential when performing viability tests where agglomerated or untangled fibrous particles need to be avoided.

Keywords: asbestos fibres; deposition; image processing; microdrop method; optical and SEM images; toxicological experiments.

Grants and funding

The Grant to Department of Science, Roma Tre University (MIUR-Italy Dipartimenti di Eccellenza, ARTICOLO 958 1, COMMI 314-337 LEGGE 232/2016) is gratefully acknowledged. GV was partly financed by PRIN project FIBRES (prot. 20173X8WA4). Financial support was also provided by INFN.