Intercomparison of lung deposition data for aerosol particles

Abstract

There are considerable discrepancies between published lung deposition data. Therefore, the aerosol groups of GSF at Frankfurt/M and of CNEN at Bologna devoted a two week workshop to the understanding of the reasons for some of these discrepancies. This paper reports on the workshop and describes the intercomparison procedures. For all particle sizes and breathing patterns investigated total deposition values for mouthbreathing evaluated with the methods and techniques used in the two laboratories agree satisfactorily and exhibit an intersubject variability. Electrostatic deposition was found to rise with increasing number of charges carried by the particles and with increasing mean residence time of the aerosols in the respiratory tract.