title: Multi-walled carbon nanotubes translocate into the pleural cavity and induce visceral mesothelial proliferation in rats.
abstract: Multi-walled carbon nanotubes have a fibrous structure similar to asbestos and induce mesothelioma when injected into the peritoneal cavity. In the present study, we investigated whether carbon nanotubes administered into the lung through the trachea induce mesothelial lesions. Male F344 rats were treated with 0.5 mL of 500 μg/mL suspensions of multi-walled carbon nanotubes or crocidolite five times over a 9-day period by intrapulmonary spraying. Pleural cavity lavage fluid, lung and chest wall were then collected. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes and crocidolite were found mainly in alveolar macrophages and mediastinal lymph nodes. Importantly, the fibers were also found in the cell pellets of the pleural cavity lavage, mostly in macrophages. Both multi-walled carbon nanotube and crocidolite treatment induced hyperplastic proliferative lesions of the visceral mesothelium, with their proliferating cell nuclear antigen indices approximately 10-fold that of the vehicle control. The hyperplastic lesions were associated with inflammatory cell infiltration and inflammation-induced fibrotic lesions of the pleural tissues. The fibers were not found in the mesothelial proliferative lesions themselves. In the pleural cavity, abundant inflammatory cell infiltration, mainly composed of macrophages, was observed. Conditioned cell culture media of macrophages treated with multi-walled carbon nanotubes and crocidolite and the supernatants of pleural cavity lavage fluid from the dosed rats increased mesothelial cell proliferation in vitro, suggesting that mesothelial proliferative lesions were induced by inflammatory events in the lung and pleural cavity and likely mediated by macrophages. In conclusion, intrapulmonary administration of multi-walled carbon nanotubes, like asbestos, induced mesothelial proliferation potentially associated with mesothelioma development.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Nanotoxicology Project, Nagoya City University, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Jiegou
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Mitsuru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Futakuchi
authors.forename: Hideo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.forename: Kazuyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanagihara
authors.forename: Katsumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukamachi
authors.forename: Masumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzui
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kanno
authors.forename: Akihiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Yoshimitsu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Dai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nakae
authors.forename: Toyonori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Omori
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsuda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017638:Asbestos, Crocidolite / Q000009:adverse effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D008168:Lung / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D016676:Macrophages, Alveolar / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000737:chemistry; D035422:Pleural Cavity / Q000473:pathology*; D051381:Rats; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344
chemical_list: D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D017638:Asbestos, Crocidolite