Biohybrid Technology for the Detection of Ultralow Concentrations of Trinitrotoluene in Air

Abstract

Abstract The technology is based on recording the focal activity (FA) of the olfactory bulb (OB) of rats upon the exposure rats to trinitrotoluene (TNT) vapors in the concentration 4.7 × 10–15 g/cm3, separately and in a mixture with saturated vapors of a complex interference composed of spices. The focal activity of the rat olfactory bulb was recorded using an array of 16 special electrodes implanted in the dorsal part of the rat olfactory bulb. The setup contained a box with a rat, sources of vapors (odorants), a multichannel digital system for recording electrical signals from an electrode array, and software performing algorithms for recognizing and classifying odorants presented to the rat. One source of TNT vapors was a device for batch volumetric preparation with a concentration of about 10–15 g/cm3, and another source was a source with a concentration of 4.7 × 10–15 g/cm3 in an air flow presented to rats. Data from 25 tests showed a 100% probability of detecting TNT vapors of the specified concentrations in pure air and also in the presence of a complex odor interference in the form of vapors from a mixture of red pepper, coriander, tobacco, etc., which, as a rule, mask the smell of TNT for animals.