Asbestos cytotoxicity in a long term macrophage-like cell culture

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos cytotoxicity in a long term macrophage-like cell culture, by M.J. Wade, L.E. Lipkin, R.W. Tucker, et al (Nature, 1976).

The study

• Authors: M.J. Wade, L.E. Lipkin, R.W. Tucker, A.L. Frank
• Journal: Nature
• Published: 1976;264(5585):444-6
• Cited by: 35 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This was a laboratory experiment on cells, not a study of people. The authors exposed P388D1 cells, malignant cells with macrophage-like characteristics, to UICC reference samples of amosite and chrysotile B asbestos at 10, 50 and 100 micrograms per millilitre. In the growth experiments the asbestos stayed on the cells for 48 hours; cell shape was examined after 8 to 10 days of exposure. They counted cells in repeated photographs and used polarisation microscopy to see fibres associated with cells. Both fibre types killed cells, and the effect rose with dose. Toxicity was related to the percentage of cells with associated fibres. Amosite at 50 and chrysotile at 10 micrograms per millilitre gave similar fibre association after 3 hours and similar cell death at 72 hours. The authors attributed chrysotile's greater toxicity per unit weight to the number of fibres associated with each cell. Cultures that survived later regrew. Exposed cells changed shape; chrysotile-exposed cells became large with a 'sunburst' surface. The authors concluded that these malignant cells would make a good model system for studying long-term asbestos-cell interactions.

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 (in vitro) cell culture experiment
• Who was studied: P388D1 cells, a line of malignant cells with macrophage-like characteristics. Unlike fresh macrophage cultures, these cells can reproduce, which allows long-term experiments. They were grown in tissue culture flasks and on coverslips.
• Exposure: Steam-sterilised UICC standard reference samples of amosite and chrysotile B asbestos at 10, 50 and 100 micrograms per millilitre. In the growth-curve experiments the asbestos-containing medium was left on the cells for 48 hours, and one flask per experiment served as an unexposed control. Cell morphology was also examined after 8 to 10 days of exposure at 50 micrograms per millilitre.
• Main results:
  • Both amosite and chrysotile produced dose-related cytotoxicity (cell killing) in P388D1 cells.
  • For both fibre types, toxicity was related to the percentage of cells with associated birefringent asbestos fibres.
  • Amosite at 50 micrograms per millilitre and chrysotile at 10 micrograms per millilitre gave a similar percentage of cell-associated fibres after 3 hours. This correlated with similar percentages of cell death at 72 hours.
  • Fibres were counted from photographs after 8 hours at these concentrations: 378 fibres with chrysotile and 366 with amosite. The authors stated that the difference in toxicity per unit weight relates to the number of fibres associated per cell.
  • Chrysotile was more toxic per unit weight than amosite. The authors attributed this to chrysotile having more fibres per unit weight that could become associated with cells.
  • Cultures that reached their lowest growth point 72 hours after exposure kept the ability to grow back to confluence. The time this took was proportional to the initial drop in cell number.
  • Amosite-exposed cells grew larger, developed thin branching projections and initially took the shape of the associated particles. Chrysotile-exposed cells became larger than normal or amosite-exposed cells and developed a 'sunburst' surface of short projections.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that asbestos was as cytotoxic for the malignant P388D1 cells as reported for non-malignant fresh macrophage cultures. They concluded that these cells would make a good model system for studying long-term effects of asbestos-cell interactions.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Macrophage.

Related studies

• The mechanism of pleural inflammation by long carbon nanotubes: interaction of long fibres with macrophages stimulates them to amplify pro-inflammatory responses in mesothelial cells — F.A. Murphy, A. Schinwald, et al. (2012)
• Spontaneous lysosomal enzyme secretion by a murine macrophage-like cell line — W. Jessup, R.T. Dean (1980)
• Response of cell cultures to asbestos fibers — J. Bruch (1974)
• Effects of chrysotile and acid-treated chrysotile on macrophage cultures — E.G. Beck, P.F. Holt, et al. (1971)
• In vitro biodegradation of chrysotile fibres by alveolar macrophages and mesothelial cells in culture: comparison with a pH effect — M.C. Jaurand, A. Gaudichet, et al. (1984)
• Inhibition of asbestos-induced transformation of rat pleural mesothelial cells in co-culture with rat macrophages — I.V. Kravchenko, V.A. Furalyov, et al. (2001)

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