Peculiarities of the clastogenic properties of chrysotile-asbestos fibers and zeolite particles

Our plain-English summary of Peculiarities of the clastogenic properties of chrysotile-asbestos fibers and zeolite particles, by A.D. Durnev, N.O. Daugel-Dauge, L.G. Korkina, et al (Mutation Research, 1993).

The study

• Authors: A.D. Durnev, N.O. Daugel-Dauge, L.G. Korkina, S.B. Seredenin
• Journal: Mutation Research
• Published: 1993;319(4):303-8
• Cited by: 9 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

It has been established that chrysotile-asbestos fibers and zeolite particles induce chromosome aberrations in human lymphocytes from whole blood cultures, peritoneal fluid cells and bone marrow cells of mice. It is shown that the level of cytogenetic response from the intraperitoneal administration of chrysotile-asbestos fibers and zeolite particles depends on the time of their exposure. Further, it is shown that SOD eliminates the cytogenetic effect of chrysotile-asbestos fibers, while catalase inhibits that of zeolite particles. Recommendations concerning testing for the mutagenic properties of mineral fibers and particles are given, and possible mechanisms of their damaging effects are discussed.

In plain English

This laboratory study tested whether chrysotile-asbestos fibers and zeolite particles, each at most 10 micrometres, damage chromosomes. The authors added each mineral (0.05 mg/ml) to cultured whole blood from healthy human donors. They also injected each mineral (50 mg/kg) into the abdominal cavity of C57BL/6 mice and examined peritoneal fluid and bone marrow cells 1, 2, 7 and 28 days later. In the human blood cultures, the share of damaged cells rose from 2.0% in controls to 7.0% with chrysotile and 9.2% with zeolite. In mouse peritoneal fluid cells, where control levels were 8.3%, damage fell on day 1, then rose. With chrysotile it reached 19.0% by day 2 and held steady, while with zeolite it kept rising, to 36.5% at 28 days. In the blood cultures, the enzyme SOD reduced chrysotile's effect and catalase stopped zeolite's. The authors concluded that both minerals were mutagenic and that active oxygen species take part. They judged the usual 24- and 48-hour test periods inadequate, suggesting zeolite's best exposure time may be at least 28 days; 48 hours may suffice for chrysotile.

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 experiment: human whole blood lymphocyte cultures (in vitro) and an animal experiment in mice (in vivo, intraperitoneal injection), measuring chromosome aberrations
• Who was studied: Whole blood from healthy human donors, with 200-300 cells from two or three donors analyzed per group. Also C57BL/6 mice aged 1.5-2 months and weighing 20-22 g, with 50 peritoneal fluid cells or 100 bone marrow cells analyzed per animal. The number of mice is not stated. The work was done at institutes in Moscow, Russia, and study dates are not given.
• Exposure: Chrysotile-asbestos fibers (Bazhenov, Russia; length not exceeding 10 micrometres) and zeolite particles (Chonguruu, Russia; size not exceeding 10 micrometres). In blood cultures they were used at 0.05 mg/ml, added at 52 h of culture, with or without the enzymes SOD (50 micrograms/ml) or catalase (20 micrograms/ml). In mice, a single 50 mg/kg intraperitoneal dose was given, with examination at 24 h, 48 h, 7 days and 28 days.
• Main results:
  • Human whole blood cultures (Table 1): aberrant metaphases were 2.0 plus or minus 1.0% in controls (200 cells), 7.0 plus or minus 1.3% with chrysotile-asbestos (400 cells, p less than 0.01) and 9.2 plus or minus 1.2% with zeolite (598 cells, p less than 0.01). Chromatid breaks were the most frequent aberrations.
  • Mouse peritoneal fluid cells, 1 day after injection: aberrant cells fell to 2.7 plus or minus 1.3% for chrysotile-asbestos and 1.8 plus or minus 0.7% for zeolite. Control levels were 8.3 plus or minus 1.6%.
  • Mouse peritoneal fluid cells, 48 h: 19.0 plus or minus 2.8% for chrysotile-asbestos, which significantly exceeded the control. For zeolite the figure was 12.0 plus or minus 2.3%, which did not differ from the control (P greater than 0.05).
  • Mouse peritoneal fluid cells, days 7 and 28 with chrysotile-asbestos: 22.0 plus or minus 2.9% and 19.0 plus or minus 2.8%. Both were statistically different from the control but did not exceed the day-2 value.
  • Mouse peritoneal fluid cells with zeolite: 16.5 plus or minus 2.6% (P less than 0.01) on day 7 and 36.5 plus or minus 3.4% (P less than 0.001) after 4 weeks.
  • Mouse bone marrow (500 cells per group, 700 for zeolite at 28 days): control 1.2 plus or minus 0.5% aberrant metaphases. Chrysotile-asbestos gave 4.4, 4.0, 3.6 and 3.2% at 1, 2, 7 and 28 days. Zeolite gave 2.2, 2.8, 2.4 and 3.6%. The authors said the same conclusion applied as for peritoneal fluid cells.
  • Enzymes in blood cultures (Table 3): SOD reduced chrysotile-asbestos aberrations from 7.0 plus or minus 1.3% to 2.0 plus or minus 1.0%, and catalase had no statistically significant influence (3.3 plus or minus 1.0%). For zeolite (8.8 plus or minus 2.0%), SOD had no influence (7.0 plus or minus 1.8%), while catalase reduced aberrations to 2.0 plus or minus 1.0%.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that chrysotile-asbestos and zeolite showed mutagenic activity in vitro and in vivo, and that active oxygen species take part in this. They judged the usual 24- and 48-hour test periods inadequate for particles that remain in the body for a long time. They suggested that the optimal exposure time for zeolite may be not less than 28 days, the time when effects could be seen in both peritoneal fluid and bone marrow cells, and that for chrysotile-asbestos the exposure could be confined to 48 h. They also suggested that phagocytes play a role as intermediates and recommended in vivo cytogenetic methods.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors could not explain the high level of spontaneous chromosome aberrations in peritoneal fluid cells of control mice.
  • The authors said their data do not clarify how chromosome aberrations arose in the bone marrow of treated mice.

Mines named here

Asbestos mines this study is about. Each mine's page says who ran it, when it worked, and what it produced.

• Bajenova district, Bajenova district, about 90 km northeast of Sverdlovsk, Russia

All asbestos mines

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Chrysotile, Zeolite, Mineral Fiber.

Related studies

• Oxygen radical-mediated mutagenic effect of asbestos on human lymphocytes: suppression by oxygen radical scavengers — L.G. Korkina, A.D. Durnev, et al. (1992)
• Chrysotile asbestos fibers mediate homologous recombination in Rat2 lambda fibroblasts: implications for carcinogenesis — K. Lezon-Geyda, C.M. Jaime, et al. (1996)
• Cell toxicity, hemolytic action and clastogenic activity of asbestos and its substitutes — K. Koshi, N. Kohyama, et al. (1991)
• Reduction of chrysotile asbestos-induced genotoxicity in human peripheral blood lymphocytes by garlic extract — K. Bhattacharya, S. Yadava, et al. (2004)
• A study of the effect of chrysotile fiber surface composition on genotoxicity in vitro — M.J. Keane, J.W. Stephens, et al. (1999)
• Chromosomal aberrations induced by chrysotile and crocidolite in human lymphocytes in vitro — F. Valerio, M. de Ferrari, et al. (1983)

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