Toxicity of Ultrafine Nickel Particles in Lungs after Intratracheal Instillation

Abstract

Toxicity of Ultrafine Nickel Particles in Lungs after Intratracheal Instillation: Qunwei ZHANG, et al. Department of Environment Health, Fukui Medical University-To study the lung acute and subacute toxicity of ultrafine nickel particles, rats were intratracheally instilled with 0, 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 5 mg ultrafine nickel (Uf-Ni), respectively. At 3 days after injection, the body weight and wet lung weight were determined. At the same time, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was analyzed for lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), total protein (TP), and total cell and differential cell counts. The results showed that indicators of lung injury and inflammation in BALF were markedly raised with increased Uf-Ni from 0 to 1 mg, and there were no differences in the indices between injection of Uf-Ni at 1 mg and at 5 mg. Rats were intratracheally instilled with 1 mg Uf-Ni, and wet lung weight, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) profiles were analyzed 1, 3, 7, 15 and 30 days later. The effects of Uf-Ni on indices that can be presumed to reflect epithelial injury and permeability (LDH or TP) were dramatically increased from day 1 up to 30 days after injection. Lung histology findings generally confirmed the BALF data, showing severe lung inflammation at 1 day after injection of UfNi, and epithelial hyperplasia and inflammation still present at 30 days after injection. Our findings suggest that Uf-Ni causes persistent inflammation following instillation of a small dose. (J Occup Health 1998; 40: 171-176)

Acute Pulmonary Toxicity Caused by Exposure to Colloidal Silica: Particle Size Dependent Pathological Changes in Mice

“…Currently, the potentially harmful role of ultrafine particle receives considerable attention as a possible explanation for the epidemiological associations of increase in PM 10 with health effects (Donaldson et al, 2001). Many toxicological studies makes it clear that ultrafine particles of various types can cause lung inflammatory responses, epithelial cell hyperplasia, inhibit phagocytosis, increased chemokine expression, lung fibrosis, increased oxidant-generating abilities, and lung tumors (Zhang et al, 1998a, 1998b; Brown et al, 2000; Donaldson and MacNee, 2001; Warheit, 2004). Ultrafine particles are also implicated as of the adverse effects of particulate air pollution on the cardiovascular system by the induction of airway inflammation, leukocyte expression, increased endothelial adhesion molecule in blood, change in blood coagulability and alteration of cardiac electrical activity (Frampton, 2001; Nemmar et al, 2002; Donaldson and Stone, 2003; Gilmour et al, 2004).…”

Bioavailability of Nickel in Single‐Wall Carbon Nanotubes

“…High-temperature annealing has been shown to efficiently remove iron from multiwall nanotubes while maintaining tube integrity, [9] but singlewall nanotubes are not stable at these temperatures, [10][11][12] and we know of no technique to selectively remove all SWNT metal without tube damage. There is a substantial literature on the toxicology of transition metals and their compounds, [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and although this literature is not targeted at nanotubes, it does provide useful insight into the biomolecular pathways of metal toxicity. This paper focuses on nickel, which is the majority component in Ni-Y catalysts commonly used in the arc synthesis of single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs).…”

“…[13,16,21,22] There is epidemiological evidence for an association between respiratory cancer and worker exposure to some nickel compounds [23] and strong evidence for nickel carcinogenesis in animal models. [16] Very few studies have examined Ni nanoparticles, an exception being the studies of Zhang et al, [14,15] who report that direct delivery to the lungs of rodents induced acute injury and inflammation that persisted up to one month. The cellular bioavailability of nickel (the delivery of Ni II ions to the nucleus of target epithelial cells) is hypothesized to be a major determinant for the carcinogenicity of nickel.…”

A Window of Opportunity: Designing Carbon Nanomaterials for Environmental Safety and Health

“…Phagocytosis/endocytosis of poorly soluble nickel compounds such as Ni 3 S 2 and NiO may play an important role in the pulmonary toxicity and carcinogenicity of nickel. Direct delivery of nickel nanoparticles to the lungs of rodents induced acute injury and inflammation persisting up to one month [14].…”