Experimental study of respiratory contamination by a mixed oxide aerosol formed from the combustion of a plutonium magnesium alloy.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Lafuma.
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Intrapleural injections of 20 mg of various mineral fibres were made to rats. Three types of fibres (chrysotile, crocidolite and glass fibres) were untreated; other chrysotile fibres were leached to different degrees. The results show that chrysotile is the most toxic of the three: animals died sooner and presented mesotheliomas earlier. With increased leaching, toxicity and carcinogenic effect decreased. Crocidolite is less toxic than untreated chrysotile but later produces as many mesotheliomas; with glass fibres, some mesotheliomas are observed. Small groups of animals were exposed to two types of irradiation before intrapleural injection of 2 mg of chrysotile. Whole-body irradiation was delivered to a third group of animals which were given asbestos-contaminated food. The paper analyses the synergistic action of these two insults.
Measurement of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) frequency of inbred Rat or nu/nu Mice bone marrow cells, following tumour grafts, have been developed. Increase of SCEs was observed in hosts which present or not metases and with reduced survival rates after malignant tumour grafts. These results suggest a remote control of tumoral tissue by a diffused matter effect.
The translocation of fibrous dusts through the respiratory system is discussed on the basis of human and experimental data obtained with the transmission electron microscope. Comparison of the characteristics (numerical and mass concentrations, sizes, types) of asbestos fibers retained in different locations of the respiratory system in humans exposed to asbestos has shown that there is no relationship between the numerical concentrations in lung parenchyma and those in parietal pleura. Moreover, almost al fibers encountered in the pleura were ultimate, short fibrils of chrysotile. The animal data are from rats injected intrapleurally with different types of fibers (chrysotile, crocidolite and glass fibers) and sacrificed at different times. There was a progressive increase in the number and mass of fibers translocated into lung parenchyma from the pleural cavity that was particularly obvious after 90 days. After this time, the mean length of fibers, especially chrysotile, increased, indicating that more long fibers are retained in alveolar tissue than short fibers.
Haemolytic activities and effects on alveolar macrophages (AM) of various fibres were studied. UICC asbestos fibres and attapulgites either untreated or acid-leached were used. Amphiboles and commercial attapulgites were both cytotoxic on AM, but attapulgites and chrysotile were only haemolytic. Chrysotile fibres induced a release of B galactosidase; when acid treated these fibres were cytotoxic and less haemolytic. Acid treated amphiboles were more haemolytic than untreated.
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The inducibility of pulmonary microsomal enzymes and the biological effects of chronic induction by 5-6 benzoflavone and methylcholanthrene were compared in normal and precancerous rats. Two important points were shown out: a dose of 6000 WLM resulted in a permanent modification of the pulmonary microsomal enzymatic pool and 5-6 benzoflavon was a strong co-factor of radiation induced carcinogenesis. This synergistic action was demonstrated by a much shorter latency, moreover neo-formed tissue and epidermoid cancers with a particular morphology were observed. In all the cases cancers appeared within 100 days following the beginning of the chemical treatment.
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A colloidal suspension of radioactive cerium chloride was inoculated into the hind legs of Sprague Dawley rats. Bone and soft-tissue tumours were induced at the site of inoculation in 77% of the animals. All bone tumours were osteogenic osteosarcomas. Soft tissue tumours were mostly malignant and were of various histological types, predominantly fibrosarcomas, haemangiopericytomas, angiosarcomas and rhabdomyosarcomas. A kinetic study showed that the doubling time (DT) of tumours was closely correlated with the anatomical site of tumour development: bone tumours had a DT of 17.4 +/- 4.3 days and malignant tumours which developed in soft tissues had a DT ranging from 7.4 to 8.4 days with the exception of two haemangiosarcomas which had a long DT of 17 +/- 0.6 days. Pulmonary metastases were frequent for osteosarcomas and tumours of vascular origin. This model of induction of bone and soft-tissue tumours in rats by injection of a colloidal suspension of radioactive cerium chloride offers the possibility of more comprehensive physiopathological and kinetic studies of these tumours and may constitute a good model for their human counterparts.
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Many cells difficult to identify by photon microscopy were identified by using serial thin and semithin epoxy section. This procedure made it possible to carry out significant statistical analysis on a restricted number of sections. When applied to the study of cell renewal in the deep lung, each cellular proliferation could be quantified.
227Th (alpha-emitter, half-life 18.7 days) was inhaled by rats from solution in nitrate form. Organ doses were calculated after whole body measurements and measuring of activity concentrations in the organs over a longer incorporation period. An initial deposition of 100 nCi 227Th in the lung resulted in mean total doses of 150 rad in lung and 36 rad in bone. The data for kidney and liver were 2 rad and 0.1 rad, respectively. For long-term experiments two dosages were applied to two groups of animals with mean values of 900 rad and 300 rad in the lung. The consequences for lung and bone tumor induction are discussed.
Inhalation studies were undertaken in which plutonium dioxide (239PuO2) was administered to either unanesthetized Wistar rats or anaesthetized baboons. In both groups of animals some deaths occurred from acute lung damage resulting from cell necrosis particularly to vascular tissue followed by alveolar oedema. At later stages, marked interstitial pneumonitis and interstitial fibrosis occurred and deaths resulted from respiratory insufficiency preceded by high arterial blood pCO2 and low pO2. In rats as many as 50% of the animals finally developed lung neoplasms by only two such tumours were found in baboons. Attempts were made to correlate biochemical parameters with observed tissue damage and animal mortality.