The detection and localization of mineral fibers in tissue

Our plain-English summary of The detection and localization of mineral fibers in tissue, by C. Berkley, J. Churg, I.J. Selioff, et al (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1965).

The study

• Authors: C. Berkley, J. Churg, I.J. Selioff, W.E. Smith
• Journal: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Published: 1965;132(1):48-63
• Cited by: 27 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher
• In J-M's library: Johns-Manville's company medical library held a copy.

In plain English

This paper described two methods the authors developed to find asbestos fibers in tissue sections before they develop into asbestos bodies. In electronic ashing, an oxygen glow discharge or low-temperature asher removed much tissue from sections, leaving fibers and bodies visible. Using phase contrast, the authors found small numbers of fibers where they were otherwise invisible, and much larger numbers where asbestos bodies were present. In fluorescence tagging, berberine sulfate was judged the brightest dye; eight other commercial asbestos varieties, including amosite, crocidolite and anthophyllite, were also made fluorescent. Dyed Canadian chrysotile was placed into the windpipes of two hamsters. In the first, killed a month later, fibers invisible in white light were readily seen by fluorescence; the second, dosed again after four weeks and examined a week later, also showed them. In test tubes, benzypyrene could not be separated from chrysotile fibers in water or saline. The authors judged electronic ashing highly satisfactory. They suggested inhaled particles such as benzypyrene might be held for long periods against the airway lining, though their results did not show it concentrating on the fibers.

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 methods paper describing two new techniques (electronic ashing and fluorescence tagging), with a small animal experiment in two hamsters and test-tube adsorption experiments
• Who was studied: Paraffin tissue sections (the article does not say how many or from whom, apart from a case of silicosis) and two adult male Syrian hamsters; work done at The Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, Barnert Memorial Hospital, Paterson, N.J., and Fairleigh Dickinson University; no dates of the work are given
• Exposure: Long-fibered Canadian chrysotile (soft and hard varieties) tagged with berberine dye and given to hamsters by tube into the windpipe (about 2 mg asbestos in 0.5 ml saline); eight other commercial asbestos varieties (anthophyllite, four amosite grades, two crocidolite grades, one chrysotile grade) dyed in the laboratory; chrysotile mixed with benzypyrene (B.P.) in test tubes
• Main results:
  • Electronic ashing of tissue sections: after about 10 minutes, much of the paraffin and tissue detail disappeared, leaving asbestos fibers and asbestos bodies, if present, clearly visible
  • Using ashing with phase contrast, the authors found small numbers of fibers in sections where they were otherwise invisible, and much larger numbers where asbestos bodies were present
  • The fibers found after ashing passed simple chemical tests for asbestos (insoluble in dilute NaOH and HCl)
  • Among the dyes tried, berberine sulfate gave the brightest fluorescence on asbestos fibers; eight other commercial asbestos varieties were also made brightly fluorescent
  • Some stained fibers kept in saline and in water for more than two years lost little or no dye
  • In the hamster killed one month after intubation, no fibers were visible in lung sections in white light, but fibers were readily visible by fluorescence
  • The second hamster received an additional intubation after four weeks and was examined one week later; its fibers were again easily visible by fluorescence
  • Chrysotile fibers placed in a very dilute (1:100,000) berberine sulfate solution took up the dye: after 24 hours the dye had disappeared from the solution and the fibers were brightly fluorescent
  • In water and saline suspensions kept for more than six months, benzypyrene (B.P.) particles adhered to chrysotile fibers so that they could not be separated by alluviation, centrifugation, shaking or washing; in acetone and xylol, no fluorescence different from controls was seen
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that localization by electronic ashing was highly satisfactory. They also suggested that solid inhaled particles such as benzypyrene may be held firmly for long periods in contact with the respiratory epithelium.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that their benzypyrene results did not indicate any concentration of benzypyrene on the surface of asbestos fibers
  • The coating around asbestos fibers (asbestos bodies) resisted electronic ashing and tended to char rather than oxidize with the 60 cycle method

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Electron microscopy analysis of mineral fibers in human lung tissue — K.H. Friedrichs, M. Brockmann, et al. (1992)
• Sectioning and imaging hard mineral fibres in biological tissues — N.F. Johnson, K. Ibe (1981)
• Analysis and interpretation of inorganic mineral particles in "lung" tissues — A.R. Gibbs, F.D. Pooley (1996)
• Nonasbestos pulmonary mineral fibers in the general population — A. Churg (1983)
• Dimensions of elongated mineral particles: a study of more than 570 fibers from more than 90 cases with implications for pathogenicity and classification as asbestiform vs. cleavage fragments — V.L. Roggli, C.L. Green (2019)
• Mineral particles of varying composition induce differential chemokine release from epithelial lung cells: importance of physico-chemical characteristics — J. Ovrevik, T. Myran, et al. (2005)

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