Centriacinar alterations in lungs of cats chronically exposed to diesel exhaust

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983 · Lab. Invest.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6721649

Plopper, C G; Hyde, D M; Weir, A J

This study describes the morphologic changes in the centriacinar regions of lungs following long-term exposure of cats to diesel exhaust. Nine male cats (13 months of age) from a minimal disease colony were exposed to diesel exhaust for 8 hours/day, 7 days/week for 27 months. Eight cats were exposed to filtered air. Following exposure, the animals were killed by exsanguination and the lungs and trachea removed from the chest by thoracotomy, weighed, and fixed via tracheal cannula with glutaraldehyde/paraformaldehyde (550 mOsmoles, pH 7.4) at 30 cm of pressure. Centriacinar regions were selected from fixed tissue, the airways bisected, and complementary tissue halves processed by a large block method for high resolution light microscopy and for scanning electron microscopy. Compared with controls, diesel-exposed cats had lower fresh lung and kidney weights and lower fixed volumes of the right cranial lobe. The volume fractions of pulmonary parenchyma and nonparenchyma were unchanged. Epithelium of terminal and respiratory bronchioles in exposed cats consisted of three types of cells (ciliated, basal, and Clara cells), compared with only one type (Clara cells) in controls. Carbon-laden macrophages were found filling alveolar and interstitial spaces in exposed animals. Type 2 pneumocyte hyperplasia was present in proximal interalveolar septa. More distal alveolar ducts and the majority of the rest of the parenchyma were unchanged from controls. We concluded that exposure to diesel exhaust produces changes in both epithelial and interstitial tissue compartments and that the focus of these lesions in peripheral lung is the centriacinar region where alveolar ducts join terminal conducting airways.

• OSTI ID: 6721649
• Journal Information: Lab. Invest.; (United States), Journal Name: Lab. Invest.; (United States) Vol. 49:4; ISSN LAINA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560305* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology-- Vertebrates-- (-1987)
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ANIMALS
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BODY
CATS
CHRONIC EXPOSURE
DIESEL ENGINES
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ENGINES
EXHAUST GASES
FLUIDS
GASEOUS WASTES
GASES
HEAT ENGINES
INHALATION
INTAKE
INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES
LUNGS
MAMMALS
MICROSCOPY
OPTICAL MICROSCOPY
ORGANS
PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
VERTEBRATES
WASTES