Particle Deposition in Human Nasal Airway Replicas Manufactured by Different Methods. Part I: Inertial Regime Particles

Information on the deposition efficiency of aerosol particles in the nasal airways is used for optimizing the delivery of therapeutic aerosols into the nose and for risk assessment of toxic airborne pollutants inhaled through the nose into the respiratory system. Nasal particle deposition is often studied using plastic replicas of nasal airways. Deposition efficiency in a nasal replica manufactured by stereolithography has not been reported to date. We determined the inertial particle deposition efficiency of two replicas of the same nasal airways manufactured by different stereolithography machines and compared results with deposition efficiencies reported for models manufactured by other techniques from the same magnetic resonance imaging scans. Deposition in the replicas was measured for particles of aerodynamic diameter between 1 and 10 μm and constant inspiratory flow rates ranging from 20–40 Ipm. Deposition efficiency of the replicas increased from nearly 0–100% with increasing particle inertia. For a range of particle inertias, particle deposition in the replica made with higher resolution stereolithography machine was slightly less than in the replica made with a lower resolution stereolithography process. These data showed lower deposition efficiency when compared with other deposition studies in nasal replicas based on the same magnetic resonance imaging data. The differences in deposition efficiency can be attributed in part to differences in methods used to manufacture the replicas. There was little or no difference in deposition due to cutting tool size, some difference due to the use of assembly plates, and some difference due to surface roughness. These associations suggest that inertial nasal particle deposition is significantly influenced by small differences in nasal airways.