M. Hurbankova et al., COMPARISON OF SOME BRONCHOALVEOLAR LAVAGE PARAMETERS AND HISTOLOGICAL-FINDINGS AFTER EXPOSURE OF RATS TO AMOSITE AND WOLLASTONITE FIBERS, BIOLOGIA, 51(6), 1996, pp. 723-728
Rats were exposed to fibrous dusts for 10 weeks (1 mg/week) and lavage
parameters (the number of Le/ml of BAL, the number of AM/ml of BAL, p
hagocytic activity and viability of AM, ratios of AM to GR, TNF-alpha
release by lavaged AM), as well as histological findings were investig
ated 3 months after tile first intratracheal instillation. While short
-fibre wollastonite instillation did not influence significantly the p
arameters studied, long-fibre wollastonite exposure significantly incr
eased only the number of Le/ml of BAL. Short and long amosite fibres c
aused different results in the parameters studied, with tile long fibr
es being more effective. In comparison with tile control conditions, s
hort amosite fibres significantly decreased the numbers of AM/ml of BA
L and increased their phagocytic activity. Long: amosite fibres signif
icantly increased the number of Le/ml of BAL and tile percentage of gr
anulocytes (i.e. tile AM to GR ratios); whereas the number of AM/ml of
BAL, phagocytic activity, viability of AM, and TNF-alpha levels in su
pernatants of cultured leukocytes were significantly decreased. Admini
stration of long amosite fibres resulted in the formation of giant cel
l granulomas around alien bodies in tile lungs. The results of our stu
dy indicate that long amosite fibres may contribute to immunosupressio
n in an exposed host.