Design and Validation with Influenza A Virus of an Aerosol Transmission Chamber for Ferrets

Turgeon, Nathalie; Hamelin, Marie-Ève; Verreault, Daniel; Lévesque, Ariane; Rhéaume, Chantal; Carbonneau, Julie; Checkmahomed, Liva; Girard, Matthieu; Boivin, Guy; Duchaine, Caroline

Air samples were collected every day using NIOSH two-stage bioaerosol cyclone samplers and SKC BioSamplers. Air samplers were connected to sampling ports located in cage two (between the perforated grates of cages one and two) as well as in cage three (between the particle separator and the perforated grate). Air sampling with NIOSH two-stage bioaerosol cyclone samplers was performed at 2 L/min for 24 h. At this flow rate, the cut-off separations of the NIOSH two-stage bioaerosol cyclone sampler were: 4 µm for first stage, 1.7 µm for second stage, and the remaining particles were collected on the backup filter. Air sampling started when ferrets were placed in cages after the infection of the ferret from cage one, and was stopped before shutting down the ventilation system for the daily nasal wash. Samples were eluted from NIOSH two-stage bioaerosol cyclone samplers by vortexing for 1 min in MEM (minimal essential medium; 5 mL in first stage, 500 µL in second stage, 5 ml in backup filter). Air sampling with SKC BioSamplers was performed at 11-14 L/min (determined by critical opening of the instrument) for 20 min and was set before shutting down the ventilation system for daily animal care. SKC BioSamplers were filled with 20 mL of MEM (minimal essential medium) without bovine serum albumin (BSA). After air sampling, 150 µL of BSA was added to the remaining liquid of the SKC BioSampler. Air samples were kept frozen at −80 • C until further quantitation. The virus concentration in NIOSH two-stage bioaerosol cyclone air samples was measured using qPCR [16] . The virus concentration in BioSampler air samples was measured using plaque assays on ST6GalI-MDCK cells and embryonated chicken eggs [17] .