A new experimental setup was developed to expose pigs to dust and airborne endotoxins in an environmental chamber. 2 pigs of 10 kg body-weight were housed in a chamber to measure inhalable and respirable dust gravimetric concentrations using area samplers. The respirable dust concentration was also measured using a TM digital microP respirable dust-measuring instrument. The endotoxin concentration was evaluated using the Limulus-assay and expressed as ng/m3 of air containing the inhalable or respirable dust or as ng/mg of inhalable and respirable dust. Feed flour dust was introduced into the chamber to obtain different concentrations of inhalable and respirable dust ranging from 3.62 to 76.66 mg/m3 and from 0.24 to 1.40 mg/m3, respectively. The endotoxin concentration was modulated by mixing the feed flour with Escherichia coli endotoxins before blowing it into the chamber. The endotoxin concentrations in the air containing inhalable or respirable dust ranged from 28.9 to 270.0 ng/m3 and from 2.22 to 36.38 ng/m3, respectively, depending on the amount of endotoxins added to the dust. It is concluded that this experimental setup could be used to study the significance of air contaminants in the development of pig respiratory diseases.









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