Oro-nasal inhalation plethysmography mask exposure system

A sampling mask for use in an exposure system, said sampling mask comprising:

• a mask having an open ended cavity,
• a sealing wall covering the cavity of said mask,
• a sampling conduit passing through said sealing wall and placing a sampling end at a point inside the cavity and an attachment end external to said sampling mask,
• a delivery conduit connectable to a plenum and in fluid communication with the cavity of said mask,
• at least one exhaust conduit in fluid communication with the cavity of said mask and connectable to the plenum, and
• a pressure sensor attached to said mask to measure pressure within the cavity of said mask.

A method for performing an exposure study of at least one test animal using an exposure system, the method comprising:

• placing a snout of one test animal into a challenge plethysmography mask having a delivery conduit connecting the mask to a plenum, at least one exhaust conduit connecting the mask to the plenum, and a pressure sensor on the mask to measure a pressure within a cavity of the mask;
• creating an environment within the plenum having material provided by an inhalation source where the material is being used in the exposure study;
• passing the environment through the delivery conduit to the mask;
• passing the environment in the mask including expiration from the test animal through the at least one exhaust conduit back to the plenum;
• sending a pressure signal from the pressure sensor to a processor;
• sampling characteristics of the environment present in the plenum, wherein the sampling is taken from a cavity of a sampling mask having a delivery conduit connecting the sampling mask to the plenum, two exhaust conduits connecting the sampling mask to the plenum, a sealing wall over an open face of the sampling mask, and a sampling conduit passing through the sealing wall and through which the sampling is taken;
• and
• calculating, with the processor connected to the pressure sensor, a dosage received by the test animal based on respiration data obtained from the pressure signal provided by the pressure sensor and environment characteristics.