Role of cellulose in wood dust‐induced fibrosing alveo‐bronchiolitis in rat

Abstract

Our experiments suggest that in the development of plant dust-induced fibrosing alveobronchiolitis--Scadding's fibrosing alveolitis--the cellulose content of plant dusts has a decisive aetiological role. Namely, the wood dust (pine) and the cellulose induced morphologically identical granulomatous inflammation and fibrosis, whereas the fibre-free extract of wood dust did not cause pathological changes in the lungs. The induction of H2O2 and superoxide anion production, shown in vitro in leucocytes, probably has an important role in the development of fibrosis.

Long-term effects of cage-cleaning frequency and bedding type on laboratory rat health, welfare, and handleability: a cross-laboratory study

“…These results are surprising because aspen is generally regarded as relatively nontoxic, but to our knowledge, all previous relevant studies have been brief, and did not use a paper bedding comparable with AlphaDri or Omega-Dri (Tö rrö nen et al 1989, Odynets et al 1991, Holland & Griffin 2000. The histological analysis did not allow us to identify the agent responsible for the pathology, but candidates could include: (a) microorganisms inherent in the material (Ewaldsson et al 2002, Kaliste et al 2004; (b) toxic volatile substances associated with the source material or processing products (Tö rrö nen et al 1989, Odynets et al 1991; and (c) cellulose dust (Milton et al 1990, Tatrai et al 1995, Kaliste et al 2004). Ammonia was not the cause because it neither differed with bedding type nor correlated with sneezing or respiratory pathology.…”

Pulmonary Inflammation in Brown Norway Rats: Possible Association of Environmental Particles in the Animal Room Environment

“…For example, pulmonary changes were found in animals housed for 5 weeks on contact bedding containing endotoxin and (1→3)β-D-glucan, a cell wall component of molds, certain bacteria and plants [7]. Both pine wood dust and cellulose induced morphologically identical granulomatous inflammation and fibrosis in lungs of animals [2,23]. Wood chip bedding used in the present study was made from spruce, a Pinaceae.…”

“…Recently, insoluble particles have been suspected of being involved in the development of granulomatous pneumonia [5,23]. Thus, we investigated the relationship between environmental particles and granulomatous pneumonia, as animal housing rooms are known to have high numbers of ambient air particles.…”

“…On the other hand, BN rats have been also found to develop spontaneous (Received 14 December 2006/ Accepted 7 May 2007 relationship between lung inflammation and insoluble particulate matter, including microbial cell wall products [7], wood dust [7,23], Sephadex particles [5,14,17] and transition metals [21]. Animal holding rooms have high levels of circulating ambient particles suspended in the air [12,22].…”

Chemical and physical characteristics of cellulose insulation particulates, and evaluation of potential acute pulmonary toxicity

“…Toxicity studies have been conducted on many different forms of cellulose from wood [Tatrai et al, 1995] and soft paper dusts [Jarvholm et al, 1988] to pure microcrystalline cellulose [Adamson et al, 1999]; however, toxicological data for CI are lacking. Because the potential toxicity of cellulose is highly dependent upon the physical and chemical form, one cannot evaluate the toxicity of CI based upon toxicity data available for other forms of cellulose.…”