In Vitro Nasal Tissue Model for the Validation of Nasopharyngeal and Midturbinate Swabs for SARS-CoV-2 Testing

© 2022 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society..

Large-scale population testing is a key tool to mitigate the spread of respiratory pathogens, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, where swabs are used to collect samples in the upper airways (e.g., nasopharyngeal and midturbinate nasal cavities) for diagnostics. However, the high volume of supplies required to achieve large-scale population testing has posed unprecedented challenges for swab manufacturing and distribution, resulting in a global shortage that has heavily impacted testing capacity worldwide and prompted the development of new swabs suitable for large-scale production. Newly designed swabs require rigorous preclinical and clinical validation studies that are costly and time-consuming (i.e., months to years long); reducing the risks associated with swab validation is therefore paramount for their rapid deployment. To address these shortages, we developed a 3D-printed tissue model that mimics the nasopharyngeal and midturbinate nasal cavities, and we validated its use as a new tool to rapidly test swab performance. In addition to the nasal architecture, the tissue model mimics the soft nasal tissue with a silk-based sponge lining, and the physiological nasal fluid with asymptomatic and symptomatic viscosities of synthetic mucus. We performed several assays comparing standard flocked and injection-molded swabs. We quantified the swab pickup and release and determined the effect of viral load and mucus viscosity on swab efficacy by spiking the synthetic mucus with heat-inactivated SARS-CoV-2 virus. By molecular assay, we found that injected molded swabs performed similarly or superiorly in comparison to standard flocked swabs, and we underscored a viscosity-dependent difference in cycle threshold values between the asymptomatic and symptomatic mucuses for both swabs. To conclude, we developed an in vitro nasal tissue model that corroborated previous swab performance data from clinical studies; this model will provide to researchers a clinically relevant, reproducible, safe, and cost-effective validation tool for the rapid development of newly designed swabs.

Errataetall:

UpdateOf: medRxiv. 2021 Nov 24;:. - PMID 34845461

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:7

Enthalten in:

ACS omega - 7(2022), 14 vom: 12. Apr., Seite 12193-12201

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Hartigan, Devon R [VerfasserIn]
Adelfio, Miryam [VerfasserIn]
Shutt, Molly E [VerfasserIn]
Jones, Stephanie M [VerfasserIn]
Patel, Shreya [VerfasserIn]
Marchand, Joshua T [VerfasserIn]
McGuinness, Pamela D [VerfasserIn]
Buchholz, Bryan O [VerfasserIn]
Ghezzi, Chiara E [VerfasserIn]

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Journal Article

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Date Revised 16.07.2022

published: Electronic-eCollection

UpdateOf: medRxiv. 2021 Nov 24;:. - PMID 34845461

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.1021/acsomega.2c00587

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM33979173X