Monitoring of fluoro-edenite fibre pollution through the study of sheep lymph nodes as a model of a biological indicator

Our plain-English summary of Monitoring of fluoro-edenite fibre pollution through the study of sheep lymph nodes as a model of a biological indicator, by V. Rapisarda, G. Rapisarda, G.D. Vico, et al (Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2005).

The study

• Authors: V. Rapisarda, G. Rapisarda, G.D. Vico, L. Gobbi, C. Loreto, M. Valentino
• Journal: Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Published: 2005;62(9):656
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 15 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

The authors examined whether sheep lymph nodes could serve as a biological indicator of environmental pollution by fluoro-edenite, a fibrous amphibole found in material from a stone quarry near Biancavilla, on the south-west slope of Mt Etna, Sicily. Mortality from pleural mesothelioma in Biancavilla had been reported as significantly increased, comparable to asbestos-exposed cohorts, and attributed to fluoro-edenite exposure. Sixty healthy sheep, randomly selected from six flocks (10 per flock) habitually grazing 3 km from the town, and 10 control sheep were sacrificed. Lymph nodes draining the lung lobes (tracheobronchial and one middle mediastinal node) were examined by histology, light and scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersion spectrometry x ray analysis. Histology showed hyperplasia of lymphoid follicles with large reactive cores, and numerous macrophages containing grey-brownish particulate with fibril-structured elements. Electron microscopy of digested nodes showed fibres with the crystallochemical features of fluoro-edenite. Their dimensions were similar to those described in the lung of a Biancavilla housewife who died of pleural mesothelioma. Fibres were found in all exposed animals and never in control nodes. Mean fibre numbers did not differ significantly among exposed animals. The authors described the results as preliminary and said they documented a risk of inhaling fluoro-edenite fibres a few kilometres from the town. They concluded that measuring these fibres in sheep lymph nodes appeared to be a helpful tool for environmental monitoring.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This letter reported a preliminary study of sheep near Biancavilla, on the south-west slope of Mount Etna, Sicily. Earlier studies cited by the authors had linked high pleural mesothelioma death rates in the town to fluoro-edenite, a fibrous amphibole found in material from a nearby stone quarry. The authors examined lung-draining lymph nodes from 60 healthy sheep, randomly chosen from six flocks (10 per flock) that grazed 3 km from the town, and from 10 control sheep. The nodes showed enlarged lymphoid follicles and macrophages containing particles, some with a fibril structure. Electron microscopy found fibres with the features of fluoro-edenite in every exposed sheep and in none of the controls. Fibre numbers did not differ significantly among exposed animals; the printed mean is garbled in the text. Fibre sizes were described as similar to those reported in the lung of a Biancavilla housewife who died of pleural mesothelioma. The authors concluded that their preliminary results document a risk of inhaling these fibres a few kilometres from the town, and that sheep lymph nodes appear useful for monitoring this pollution.

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: letter reporting a preliminary animal study (sheep lymph nodes examined by histology, light and scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersion x-ray analysis), with control sheep
• Who was studied: 60 healthy sheep randomly selected from six flocks (10 per flock) habitually grazing 3 km from Biancavilla, Sicily, plus 10 control sheep; dates of the study not given
• Exposure: environmental airborne dust containing fluoro-edenite, a fibrous amphibole found in inert material extracted from a nearby stone quarry
• Main results:
  • In the exposed sheep, histology showed hyperplasia of lymphoid follicles with large reactive cores, and macrophages containing grey-brownish particulate, including elements with a fibril structure
  • Scanning electron microscopy of digested nodes found naked fibres with the crystallochemical features of fluoro-edenite
  • Fibres were found in all exposed sheep and never in the control sheep
  • The mean number of fibres did not differ significantly among exposed animals (the printed mean value is garbled in the text)
  • Fibre lengths ranged from 8 to 41 and diameters from 0.4 to 1.39 (units printed as 'mm', apparently garbled); the authors described these sizes as similar to those reported in the lung of a Biancavilla housewife who died from pleural mesothelioma
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that their preliminary results document the risk of inhaling fluoro-edenite fibres a few kilometres from the town, that sheep can be effective biological indicators of this pollution, and that measuring these fibres in lymph nodes appears to be a helpful tool for environmental monitoring
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors described their results as preliminary

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: fluoro-edenite, Amphibole Group, Biancavilla, Pleural Mesothelioma, Histology, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Macrophage, Fibril.

Related studies

• Immunohistochemical expression of retinoblastoma and phospho-retinoblastoma protein in sheep lung exposed to fluoro-edenite fibers — G. Musumeci, C. Loreto, et al. (2010)
• Angiogenesis correlates with macrophage and mast cell infiltration in lung tissue of animals exposed to fluoro-edenite fibers — G. Musumeci, C. Loreto, et al. (2016)
• Fibulin-3 immunoexpression in malignant mesothelioma due to fluoro-edenite: a preliminary report — R. Caltabiano, C. Loreto, et al. (2018)
• Mineral fibre toxicity: expression of retinoblastoma (Rb) and phospho-retinoblastoma (pRb) protein in alveolar epithelial and mesothelial cell lines exposed to fluoro-edenite fibres — G. Musumeci, V. Cardile, et al. (2011)
• Immunohistochemical Expression of Aquaporin-1 in Fluoro-Edenite-Induced Malignant Mesothelioma: A Preliminary Report — G. Angelico, R. Caltabiano, et al. (2018)
• Diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma by fine needle aspiration of a cervical lymph node. A case report — N.A. Ansari, N.W. Derias (2000)

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