A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE CLEARANCE OF RESPIRABLE PARA-ARAMID, CHRYSOTILE AND GLASS FIBRES FROM RAT LUNGS

摘要

A number of studies have indicated that the relative toxicity of different fibre types after inhalation is related to their durability within lung tissue. The aim of this study was to assess the relative biopersistence of respirable para-aramid fibrils, chrysotile asbestos and code 100/475 glass fibres in rat lungs. The biopersistence of all three test fibres was measured by quantifying the changes in retained lung burden through time following 10days inhalation exposure to the same target concentration (700 fibres ml~-1) for each fibre type. The lung burden analyses for all three fibre types show large reductions in number and volume of retained fibres during the 16 months following exposure.