A technique for the exposure and detection of inhaled aerosols in poultry

The respiratory activity of poultry is highly susceptible to changes in respiratory dead space volume, airstream pressure, ambient temperature, and body position. A technique has been developed which will minimize these variables; yet permit the exposure and detection of inhaled aerosols. Monodispersed latex spheres of a known size are radioactively labeled following polymerization of iodine-127 onto the surface of the spheres. The bird is anesthetized and placed in a whole-body plethysmography. The liquid dispersed latex spheres are aerosolized from a nebulizer attached to a 10 p.s.i.g. compressed air line. The particles are electrostatically neutralized and routed to a plenum at near ambient pressure. The bird breathes at will through a unidirectional mask attached to the plenum. Following exposure the bird is euthanatized, the plethysmograph calibrated and the deposition in the respiratory tract measured at each of seven sections by a collimated, scintillation detector.