Comparison of electrostatic collection and liquid impinging methods when collecting airborne house dust allergens, endotoxin and (1,3)-b-d-glucans

• Published in: Journal of aerosol science 2009-06, Vol.40 (6), p.492-502
• Main Authors: Yao, Maosheng, Zhang, Huili, Dong, Shuofei, Zhen, Shiqi, Chen, Xiaodong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerosols
• ISSN: 0021-8502
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jaerosci.2009.02.002

The use of electrostatic collection was investigated in quantifying airborne environmental allergens and toxins. The experiments were conducted with two 96-well plates filled with water and placed into the electrostatic sampler designed in this study. The combinations of different electrostatic fields: 0.63, 1.25 kV/cm, and different sampling flow rates: 5, 12.5 L/min, were tested with the electrostatic sampler. As a reference, a BioSampler operating at 12.5 L/min was simultaneously placed in the same environments. The sampling lasted for 40 min both for electrostatic sampler and the BioSampler in each test. House dust allergens, endotoxin and (1,3)-b-d-glucans in the air samples collected were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Limulus amebocyte lysate (LAL) method, respectively. The entire experiments were conducted both in office environment and hotel rooms. The concentrations of airborne allergens (Der p 1 and Der f 1) and toxins (endotoxin and (1,3)-b-d-glucans) obtained by the electrostatic sampler were shown significantly higher than those by the BioSampler in most cases. Paired t-tests (n=9) indicated that the sampling difference was statistically significant (p-value