INFLAMMATORY RESPONSE OF THE LUNG TO TUNGSTEN PARTICLES - AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY IN MICE SUBMITTED TO INTRATRACHEAL INSTILLATION OF A CALCIUM TUNGSTATE POWDER

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 1993

Authors

PEAO, MND (Author) Other; AP Águas (Author) ICBAS; Carlos Sá (Author) FEUP; GRANDE, NR (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Lung

Vol. 171

Pages: 187-201

ISSN: 0341-2040

Publisher: Springer Nature

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 15 Citations

Scopus - 15 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-001-MXK

Abstract (EN): Tungsten has been implicated as a cause of a severe form of pneumoconiosis in humans, the so-called ''hard metal'' lung disease. We have investigated the effect of intratracheal instillation of a powder of calcium tungstate on the pulmonary tissue of CD-1 mice. The tungsten-induced alterations were studied using 3 microanatomical methods: cytologic study of exudates obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL); histologic examination of paraffin-embedded sections of the lung; and scanning electron microscopic (SEM) examination of lung samples using x-ray microanalysis to detect tungsten in situ. The animals were sacrificed 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days after a single intratracheal instillation of 250 mug calcium tungstate particles suspended in 100 mul of saline. We found that the metal particles induced a marked inflammatory response in the bronchoalveolar space characterized by a biphasic attraction of leukocytes with cellular peaks observed at day 1 and 14. More than 50% of the BAL macrophages showed ingested tungsten. In the lung parenchyma, the inflammatory-infiltrates were predominantly located at the periphery of the bronchiolar walls. From 7 days on after the tungsten deposition, large inflammatory exudates were seen invading focal areas of the alveolar domain of the lung. SEM views revealed that the tungsten particles could be inside alveolar macrophages, in cells making up the alveolar wall, or inside periacinar lymphatics. Our data document that tungsten particles cause a marked inflammatory response in the lung tissue and that the leukocyte exudates may invade alveolar areas of the lung. This strong inflammatory response may correspond to the early stages of the tungsten-induced '' hard-metal '' lung disease previously reported in humans.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 15