Investigation of air-liquid interfacial damage of animal cells in a falling film-flow device

A falling film-flow device was employed to expose animal cells to well-defined rapidly moving air-liquid interfaces. Cells (insect Sf-21) in the film flow suffered from severe mechanical damage with rapid cell death and lysis. The cell death rate was closely correlated with the momentum of the falling film but not the interfacial area, indicative of cell damage due to shear stress created by the falling film running into the bulk liquid, instead of direct interaction of the cells with the air-liquid interface.