Lung Injury and Disease Resulting From Asbestos Exposure

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Asbestos dust exposure can result in the development of disease.  This fact has been a strong impetus for research.  One interesting study involving the disease development in the lungs of rats is called, “Hydroxyl radicals are formed in the rat lung after asbestos instillation in vivo.” By Schapira RM, Ghio AJ, Effros RM, Morrisey J, Dawson CA, Hacker AD – Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee – Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 1994 May;10(5):573-9.  Here is an excerpt: “The hydroxyl radical (.OH) has been implicated as a cause of lung injury following asbestos exposure. However, despite in vitro evidence associating asbestos with .OH production, there has been no demonstration of such generation in vivo.

We tested the hypothesis that .OH is formed in the lungs of rats exposed to asbestos in vivo by using salicylate as a free radical trap. Asbestos was instilled intratracheally, and control rats were sham-exposed. Six to seven days after exposure, the rats were given salicylate, the lungs were isolated, and salicylate hydroxylation products (2,3- and 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid), reflecting .OH production, were measured. There was significantly more 2,3-dihydroxybenzoic acid in asbestos-exposed lungs compared with control lungs (2.32