Hair embolism in lungs of rat and rabbit caused by intravenous injection.
Among 1422 Sprague-Dawley rats treated daily for 28 consecutive days by i.v. injection, 144 animals (10.1%) showed particles of hair in thrombi at the site of injection. 381 rats (26.8%) had pulmonary emboli with fragments of hair and skin in arterial thrombi or in giant cell granulomas. 6 weeks after cessation of treatment lesions were still found in lungs from 5 of 90 rats (5.6%) allowed to recover. After the experimental administration of 0.75 ml/100 g body wt of a hair suspension (3000 hair particles/ml) to rats, there was no influence on phagocytosis whether endogenous or foreign hairs were injected. In 8 of 64 Himalayan rabbits (12.5%) given 28 injections each into ear veins pulmonary embolism was observed.
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006197:Hair; D007275:Injections, Intravenous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D010587:Phagocytosis; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000209:etiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012867:Skin