A histochemical study of the asbestos body coating

Our plain-English summary of A histochemical study of the asbestos body coating, by M. Governa, C. Rosanda (British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1972).

The study

• Authors: M. Governa, C. Rosanda
• Journal: British Journal of Industrial Medicine
• Published: 1972;29(2):154-9
• Cited by: 32 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Governa, M., and Rosanda, C. (1972).Brit. J. industr. Med.,29, 154-159. A histochemical study of the asbestos body coating. Asbestos bodies after iron extraction were tested by histochemical methods for mucopolysaccharides. The results of the reactions suggest that acid mucopolysaccharides are present in the coating of most bodies. During the formation of the bodies acid mucopolysaccharides might act as a matrix for iron deposition on the coating.

In plain English

This laboratory study, from the Institute of Industrial Medicine at the University of Genoa, examined asbestos bodies in preserved lung specimens from seven human cases of asbestosis. Asbestos bodies are asbestos fibres coated with a layer of material. The article does not say which fibre type was involved. The authors removed iron from the coating with oxalic acid or sodium dithionite. They then applied stains used to detect mucopolysaccharides. Before iron removal, no body showed the colour change (metachromasia) the authors linked to acid mucopolysaccharides. After iron removal, about 70% of bodies stained with toluidine blue showed this colour change and about 30% did not. Among bodies pretreated with oxalic acid, about two-thirds stained with alcian blue at pH 2.5. Further chemical tests pointed to hyaluronic acids. The authors concluded that the experiments suggest mucopolysaccharides, especially hyaluronic acids, are present in the coating, and that these may act as a matrix for iron deposition. They noted that about 10% of bodies kept their iron and that small amounts may have gone undetected. The study was funded by the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory histochemical study of asbestos bodies in human lung tissue (staining experiments, with control tissue sections)
• Who was studied: Lung specimens from seven human cases of asbestosis, fixed in formol-saline, studied at the University of Genoa, Italy; both tissue sections and asbestos bodies isolated from the same lungs were examined. Dates and patient details are not given.
• Exposure: Asbestos bodies (coated asbestos fibres) found in the lungs; the fibre type and the patients' asbestos exposure are not described
• Main results:
  • Iron removal with either oxalic acid or sodium dithionite left more than 90% of asbestos bodies negative on the Prussian blue (iron) reaction
  • Asbestos bodies not treated to remove iron: none showed metachromatic staining with toluidine blue
  • Asbestos bodies after iron removal: about 30% stained with toluidine blue at pH 2.0 to 3.0 were unstained, while 70% showed metachromatic reddish-violet staining
  • Asbestos bodies pretreated with oxalic acid: about two-thirds stained with alcian blue at pH 2.5
  • The metachromatic staining was removed by methylation and restored by saponification. After testicular hyaluronidase treatment, many bodies kept their coating but no longer stained with toluidine blue.
  • Asbestos bodies pretreated with oxalic acid: about four-fifths stained with alcian blue at 0.1 M, 0.2 M and 0.5 M magnesium chloride, but were negative at 0.6 M and 0.8 M
  • The same results were seen in tissue sections and in smears of isolated bodies
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the experiments suggest mucopolysaccharides, especially hyaluronic acids, are present in the asbestos body coating. They stated this may strengthen the view that acid polysaccharides act as a matrix for deposition of colloidal iron during body formation.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The hypochlorite used to isolate bodies for smears may have altered staining, and no direct control was possible. The authors judged this unlikely to have affected findings because untreated tissue sections gave the same results.
  • Mucopolysaccharides were not found in about one-third of treated bodies. Some of these (10% of all bodies) still contained iron after treatment.
  • In bodies that tested negative, the amount of mucopolysaccharides might have been too small to detect with the techniques used

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Asbestosis.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Body Formation, Asbestos Bodies, Deposition.

Related studies

• Histochemical study of asbestos fibre coating in experimental carrageenin granulomas — M. Governa, C. Rosanda Vadalá (1973)
• Mucopolysaccharide osmotic pressure in the measurement of interstitial pressure — P.D. Snashall (1977)
• Effect of insulin and epidermal growth factors on the synthesis of glycosaminoglycans/proteoglycans in cultured human malignant mesothelioma cells of different phenotypic morphology — G.N. Tzanakakis, N.K. Karamanos, et al. (1996)
• Ferromagnetic contamination in the lungs and other organs of the human body — D. Cohen (1973)
• Structure and development of the asbestos body — Y. Suzuki, J. Churg (1969)
• A comparison of the ferruginous body and uncoated fiber content in the lungs of former asbestos workers — R.F. Dodson, M.G. Williams, et al. (1985)

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