Pulmonary Toxicity of Inhaled Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes

Details

• Personal Author:
  Andrew M ; Battelli L ; Castranova, Vincent ; Chen BT ; Frazer DG ; Hubbs, Ann F. ; McKinney W ; Porter DW ; Wolfarth MG
• Description:
  The large scale manufacture of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) suggests occupational exposures may occur. In order to investigate the pulmonary toxicity of MWCNT, male C57BL6/J mice (6 weeks old) were exposed to aerosolized MWCNT (10 mg/m3, 5 hours per day; mass mode aerodynamic diameter 1.3 um, count mode aerodynamic diameter 0.4 um) for 2, 4, and 8 days. All mice were sacrificed at one day post-exposure. In bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) studies, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) were assessed to index pulmonary inflammation, BAL fluid lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity was measured as a marker of cytotoxicity, and BAL fluid albumin was determined as a marker of the lung airblood barrier integrity. Air-exposed controls had 0.2 +/- 0.1 (x 103) PMNs/mouse. MWCNT exposure increased PMNs levels to 153.7 +/- 26.6 and 125.2 +/- 26.2 (x 103) PMNs/mouse after 2 and 4 days exposure, respectively. After 8 days exposure, PMNs increased further to 1,151.7 +/- 124.2 (x 103) PMNs/mouse. In air-exposed controls, BAL fluid LDH activity was 58 +/- 3 (units/l), and MWCNT exposure induced significant increases to 131 +/- 6, 159 +/- 9, and 252 +/- 10 (units/l) after 2, 4 and 8 days exposure, respectively. Air-exposed control BAL fluid albumin was 0.13 +/- 0.01 (mg/ml), and MWCNT exposure induced significant increases to 0.19 +/- 0.01, 0.28 +/- 0.02, and 0.37 +/- 0.02 (mg/ml) after 2, 4 and 8 days exposure, respectively. Histopathological evaluation of lungs after 4 and 8 days of exposure confirmed pulmonary inflammation. After 8 days of MWCNT exposure, some mice had histopathological evidence of fibrosis at sites of MWCNT deposition. In summary, these data indicate that exposure to aerosolized MWCNTs results in dose-dependent increases in pulmonary inflammation and damage, suggesting that aerosolized MWCNT may pose an occupational health hazard. However, additional dose-response and time course studies are necessary to fully evaluate the potential health risks posed by exposure to aerosolized MWCNT. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Aerosols Air Pollutants, Occupational Biological Factors Blood Cytology Environmental Monitoring Hazardous Substances Irritants Laboratories Lung Lung Diseases Microbiology Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Particulate Matter Respiratory Hypersensitivity Respiratory System Respiratory Tract Diseases Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety

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• Keywords:
  Aerosol-particles Airborne-particles Biological-effects Biological-factors Blood-cells Blood-stream Cell-biology Cell-morphology Cellular-reactions Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-methods Inhalation-studies Laboratory-animals Lung-cells Lung-irritants Microscopic-analysis Nanotechnology Occupational-exposure Particle-aerodynamics Particulates Pulmonary-disorders Pulmonary-function Pulmonary-system-disorders Respiratory-hypersensitivity Respiratory-irritants Risk-factors Statistical-analysis Tissue-culture Toxic-effects

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• ISSN:
  1096-6080
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  HELD - Health Effects Laboratory Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  108
• Issue:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20035303
• Citation:
  Toxicologist 2009 Mar; 108(1):457
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon (CAS RN 7440-44-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2009
• NORA Priority Area:
  Manufacturing
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  The Toxicologist. Society of Toxicology 48th Annual Meeting and ToxExpo, March 15-19, 2009, Baltimore, Maryland
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e458a3a7b96a4ad143befb2ad3381ddd738b57be2f0538c5c713fc39368067e22fda0c67b506515d4dfdc25d1add72104e2edc7d806dc1de489de20cbabda92f
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/187211/cdc_187211_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.85 MB ]