Maintaining a proper viable environment for the cultured cells during exposure is key for successful exposures. To avoid cellular damage due to desiccation, maintaining relative humidity levels above 75% at ~37°C is necessary. This means that moisture needs to be added to the sampled test atmosphere at ~37°C prior to exposing the cells. Humidifying the sampled air at room temperature is not sufficient. For this reason, the CelTox Sampler setup includes a temperature-regulated diffusion humidifier in-line upstream of the exposure chamber. What’s unique about our diffusion humidifiers is that they are a non-diluting humidification system that can add moisture to the sampled atmosphere without diluting the test atmosphere. This is especially important when trying to expose cells to complex mixtures containing both gases and particles because the physical-chemical equilibrium of the gases/particles is not altered.

Our standard diffusion humidifier is designed specifically to accommodate the 2.0 L/min flow rate of the CelTox Sampler. We also offer a smaller humidifier for ~1 L/min flow rates and do custom sizes if working with other systems requiring lower flow rates. The humidifiers can be customized with a variety of tube fittings for easy integration into your experimental setups.