M. Hurbankova, DYNAMIC STUDY OF THE PHAGOCYTIC-ACTIVITY OF RATS LEUKOCYTES AFTER EXPOSURE TO ASBESTOS AND BASALT FIBERS, Zentralblatt fur Hygiene und Umweltmedizin, 194(3), 1993, pp. 292-300
The paper presents the results of the dynamic one-year follow-up of th
e phagocytic activity of Wistar-rats peripheral blood leukocytes follo
wing intraperitoneal administration of asbestos and basalt fibres (Man
-Made Mineral Fibres - MMMF). We investigated the phagocytic activity
of leukocytes in peripheral blood following intraperitoneal administra
tion of asbestos and basalt fibres to rats 2, 24, 48 h as well as 1, 2
, 4, 8 weeks and 6 and 12 months after dosing. We investigated the tim
e dependent of the changes of relative granulocytes count, percentage
of phagocytizing cells from leukocytes, percentage of phagocytizing gr
anulocytes and percentage of phagocytizing monocytes. The results of o
ur experiment showed that asbestos and basalt fibres differed in their
effects on the parameters studied. Granulocyte count as well as the p
hagocytic activity of leukocytes during the one-year dynamic follow-up
in both dust - exposed groups of animals were found to change in two
phases, characterised by the initial stimulation of the acute phase (1
), followed by the suppression of the parameters in the chronic phase
(II). Exposure to asbestos and basalt fibres led, in phase II, to impa
irment of the phagocytic activity of granulocytes. Asbestos fibres at
the same time significantly decreased also the phagocytic activity of
monocytes. Exposure to basalt fibres did not affect the phagocytic act
ivity of monocytes in phase II. It follows from the results of the exp
eriment, that the monocytic component of leukocytes probably plays an
important role in the development of diseases caused by exposure to fi
brous dusts and basalt fibres have smaller biological effects compared
with asbestos fibres.