The response of human pleura in organ culture to asbestos

Our plain-English summary of The response of human pleura in organ culture to asbestos, by K.T. Rajan, J.C. Wagner, P.H. Evans (Nature, 1972).

The study

• Authors: K.T. Rajan, J.C. Wagner, P.H. Evans
• Journal: Nature
• Published: 1972;238(5363):346-7
• Cited by: 20 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This short laboratory report from the MRC Pneumoconiosis Unit in Wales tested whether human pleura (the chest lining) kept alive in culture would react to asbestos. The authors wanted a quicker method than animal experiments, which they said take at least three years. Parietal pleura removed during open chest surgery was cut into 2 mm pieces and cultured for up to 8 days in medium containing 0.01% blue asbestos (a UICC crocidolite sample). Pleura cultured without asbestos served as the control. The report did not say how many patients supplied tissue. Its pictures came from a 52-year-old woman. Asbestos-exposed pleura showed marked growth of mesothelial cells, the cells lining its surface, compared with controls. In some areas these cells invaded the tissue beneath, and the cells had larger nuclei, 7.0 μm (standard error 0.12) compared with 4.5 μm (standard error 0.11) in controls. There was also more collagen in the underlying tissue. The authors concluded that tissue in organ culture can respond to a fibre in a short period, and that such systems should be useful for studying fibres, chemicals and perhaps carcinogens.

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: organ culture of human pleural tissue exposed to asbestos, compared with unexposed control tissue
• Who was studied: Human parietal pleura obtained at open thoracotomy, cut into 2 mm square pieces. The number of patients is not stated. The figures show tissue from a 52-year-old woman. The work was done at the MRC Pneumoconiosis Unit, Llandough Hospital, Penarth, Wales, and was received by the journal March 1, 1972.
• Exposure: Blue asbestos (UICC Crocidolite sample) suspended at a concentration of 0.01% in culture medium BGJ with 15% foetal calf serum, for periods of up to 8 days (6 days for the tissue shown in Fig. 1). Control pleura was kept under identical conditions without asbestos.
• Main results:
  • Pleural pieces exposed to asbestos showed marked proliferation of mesothelial cells compared with controls kept in normal medium
  • In some areas of the asbestos-exposed pleura, the cells invaded the underlying tissue
  • The cells in asbestos-exposed pleura had larger nuclei (7.0 μm, s.e. 0.12) than controls (4.5 μm, s.e. 0.11)
  • There was an increased amount of collagen in the underlying tissue of asbestos-exposed pleura, seen in azan-stained sections
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that the experiments showed tissue in organ culture can respond to a fibre in a short period, compared with the long period needed for a similar effect in the living body. They concluded that organ culture systems should be useful for investigating the effect of various fibres, chemicals and perhaps carcinogens in a relatively short period.

Topics

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

Related studies

• A novel system for the culture of human lung: lung development and the response to injury — M.T. Hsu, M. Dimaio, et al. (1992)
• Use of hamster tracheal organ cultures for assessing the cocarcinogenic effects of inorganic particulates on the respiratory epithelium — B.T. Mossman, J.E. Craighead (1979)
• Assessment of the pathogenic potential of asbestiform vs. nonasbestiform particulates (cleavage fragments) in in vitro (cell or organ culture) models and bioassays — B.T. Mossman (2008)
• Interaction of asbestos with metaplastic squamous epithelium developing in organ cultures of hamster trachea — C.D. Woodworth, B.T. Mossman, et al. (1983)
• Effects of cigarette smoke on epithelial uptake of non-asbestos mineral particles in tracheal organ culture — B. Keeling, J. Hobson, et al. (1993)
• Ozone enhances the uptake of mineral particles by tracheobronchial epithelial cells in organ culture — A. Churg, M. Brauer, et al. (1996)

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