Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
    • Front Matter Portal
    • Journal Club
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses
  • Submit
  • Submit
  • About
    • Editorial Board
    • PNAS Staff
    • FAQ
    • Accessibility Statement
    • Rights and Permissions
    • Site Map
  • Contact
  • Journal Club
  • Subscribe
    • Subscription Rates
    • Subscriptions FAQ
    • Open Access
    • Recommend PNAS to Your Librarian

User menu

  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Home
Home
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Current
    • Special Feature Articles - Most Recent
    • Special Features
    • Colloquia
    • Collected Articles
    • PNAS Classics
    • List of Issues
  • Front Matter
    • Front Matter Portal
    • Journal Club
  • News
    • For the Press
    • This Week In PNAS
    • PNAS in the News
  • Podcasts
  • Authors
    • Information for Authors
    • Editorial and Journal Policies
    • Submission Procedures
    • Fees and Licenses
  • Submit
Research Article

Inhaling to mitigate exhaled bioaerosols

David A. Edwards, Jonathan C. Man, Peter Brand, Jeffrey P. Katstra, K. Sommerer, Howard A. Stone, Edward Nardell, and Gerhard Scheuch
  1. *Harvard University, 322 Pierce Hall, 29 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; ‡Pulmatrix Incorporated, 840 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02139; §Inamed, Wohraer Strasse 37, 35285 Gemuenden/Wohra, Germany; and ¶Harvard Medical School, 641 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115

See allHide authors and affiliations

PNAS December 14, 2004 101 (50) 17383-17388; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0408159101
David A. Edwards
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jonathan C. Man
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Peter Brand
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jeffrey P. Katstra
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
K. Sommerer
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Howard A. Stone
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Edward Nardell
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Gerhard Scheuch
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  1. Communicated by Howard Brenner, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, November 4, 2004 (received for review July 18, 2004)

  • Article
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Humans commonly exhale aerosols comprised of small droplets of airway-lining fluid during normal breathing. These “exhaled bioaerosols” may carry airborne pathogens and thereby magnify the spread of certain infectious diseases, such as influenza, tuberculosis, and severe acute respiratory syndrome. We hypothesize that, by altering lung airway surface properties through an inhaled nontoxic aerosol, we might substantially diminish the number of exhaled bioaerosol droplets and thereby provide a simple means to potentially mitigate the spread of airborne infectious disease independently of the identity of the airborne pathogen or the nature of any specific therapy. We find that some normal human subjects expire many more bioaerosol particles than other individuals during quiet breathing and therefore bear the burden of production of exhaled bioaerosols. Administering nebulized isotonic saline to these “high-producer” individuals diminishes the number of exhaled bioaerosol particles expired by 72.10 ± 8.19% for up to 6 h. In vitro and in vivo experiments with saline and surfactants suggest that the mechanism of action of the nebulized saline relates to modification of the physical properties of the airway-lining fluid, notably surface tension.

  • drug delivery
  • lung
  • infectious disease
  • influenza

Footnotes

  • ↵ † To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: dedwards{at}deas.harvard.edu or gscheuch{at}inamed.de.

  • Author contributions: D.A.E., J.C.M., P.B., J.P.K., H.A.S., and G.S. designed research; D.A.E., J.C.M., P.B., J.P.K., K.S., H.A.S., E.N., and G.S. analyzed data; D.A.E., J.C.M., J.P.K., and E.N. wrote the paper; and P.B., J.P.K., K.S., and G.S. performed research.

  • Abbreviations: DPPC, 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine; POPG, 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoglycerol; LBG, locust bean gum.

  • Copyright © 2004, The National Academy of Sciences
View Full Text
PreviousNext
Back to top
Article Alerts
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on PNAS.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Inhaling to mitigate exhaled bioaerosols
(Your Name) has sent you a message from PNAS
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the PNAS web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Inhaling to mitigate exhaled bioaerosols
David A. Edwards, Jonathan C. Man, Peter Brand, Jeffrey P. Katstra, K. Sommerer, Howard A. Stone, Edward Nardell, Gerhard Scheuch
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Dec 2004, 101 (50) 17383-17388; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0408159101

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
Inhaling to mitigate exhaled bioaerosols
David A. Edwards, Jonathan C. Man, Peter Brand, Jeffrey P. Katstra, K. Sommerer, Howard A. Stone, Edward Nardell, Gerhard Scheuch
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Dec 2004, 101 (50) 17383-17388; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0408159101
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Mendeley logo Mendeley
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: 101 (50)
Table of Contents

Submit

Sign up for Article Alerts

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Materials and Methods
    • Results and Discussion
    • Conclusion
    • Acknowledgments
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & SI
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

You May Also be Interested in

Water from a faucet fills a glass.
News Feature: How “forever chemicals” might impair the immune system
Researchers are exploring whether these ubiquitous fluorinated molecules might worsen infections or hamper vaccine effectiveness.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Dmitry Naumov.
Reflection of clouds in the still waters of Mono Lake in California.
Inner Workings: Making headway with the mysteries of life’s origins
Recent experiments and simulations are starting to answer some fundamental questions about how life came to be.
Image credit: Shutterstock/Radoslaw Lecyk.
Cave in coastal Kenya with tree growing in the middle.
Journal Club: Small, sharp blades mark shift from Middle to Later Stone Age in coastal Kenya
Archaeologists have long tried to define the transition between the two time periods.
Image credit: Ceri Shipton.
Mouse fibroblast cells. Electron bifurcation reactions keep mammalian cells alive.
Exploring electron bifurcation
Jonathon Yuly, David Beratan, and Peng Zhang investigate how electron bifurcation reactions work.
Listen
Past PodcastsSubscribe
Panda bear hanging in a tree
How horse manure helps giant pandas tolerate cold
A study finds that giant pandas roll in horse manure to increase their cold tolerance.
Image credit: Fuwen Wei.

Similar Articles

Site Logo
Powered by HighWire
  • Submit Manuscript
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS Feeds
  • Email Alerts

Articles

  • Current Issue
  • Special Feature Articles – Most Recent
  • List of Issues

PNAS Portals

  • Anthropology
  • Chemistry
  • Classics
  • Front Matter
  • Physics
  • Sustainability Science
  • Teaching Resources

Information

  • Authors
  • Editorial Board
  • Reviewers
  • Subscribers
  • Librarians
  • Press
  • Cozzarelli Prize
  • Site Map
  • PNAS Updates
  • FAQs
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Rights & Permissions
  • About
  • Contact

Feedback    Privacy/Legal

Copyright © 2021 National Academy of Sciences. Online ISSN 1091-6490