Haemolysis by asbestos fibres results from an increase in membrane permeability and not from rupture of red blood cells (RBC). The effect of chrysotile asbestos on RBC is at least partly, if not completely, attributable to lipid extraction and adsorption on to the fibres. This was suggested by the hyperbolic relationship between the haemolytic activity of chrysotile and the relative concentrati...

In 1995, Dell and Teta published a cohort mortality study of asbestos molding compound workers at a Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) plastics manufacturing plant in Bound Brook, New Jersey. They reported that the factory workers were exposed to "asbestos (mostly chrysotile)," implying that the asbestos used at the Bound Brook plant occasionally contained amphiboles. However, UCC statements and t...

UNLABELLED To elucidate the features of the asbestos fibers contributing to the induction of human malignant mesothelioma, we used high-resolution analytical electron microscopy to determine the type, number, and dimensions of asbestos fibers in lung and mesothelial tissues in 168 cases of mesothelioma. RESULTS 1. Asbestos fibers were present in almost all of the lung and mesothelial tissues ...

Chrysotile is one of the six types of asbestos, and it is the only one that can still be commercialized in many countries. Exposure to other types of asbestos has been associated with serious diseases, such as lung carcinomas and pleural mesotheliomas. The association of chrysotile exposure with disease is controversial. However, in vitro studies show the mutagenic potential of chrysotile, whic...

Cultures of rat pleural mesothelial cells (PMC) were exposed to nonlethal doses of UICC chrysotile A. The morphology was studied by optical and electron microscopy. The consequences of chrysotile ingestion on the rate of pinocytosis of horseradish peroxidase (HPR) metabolism and benzo-3-4-pyrene (BP) were studied. Nonlethal doses of chrysotile (5 micrograms/mL) induced a time-dependent vacuolat...

We examined effects of asbestos exposure on the phosphorylation of p53 protein in human pulmonary epithelial type II cells (A549), which express wild-type p53. In cells exposed to two different types of asbestos, chrysotile (approximately 1-6% iron content) and crocidolite (approximately 27% iron content) fibers, at the doses of 1, 5, and 10 microg/cm2 for 24 hr, the levels of p53 phosphorylate...

The disturbing image on the cover of this issue of the Canadian Journal of Public Health shows a child in Indonesia sifting barehanded through a dump littered with asbestos. Two adults with bags – one with the logo of Lab Chrysotile, an asbestos mine in Quebec – are also looking for pieces of chrysotile-containing cement widely used in construction in that country. The pieces of cement can be m...

Biological modification of asbestos fibers can alter their interaction with target cells. We have shown that vitronectin (VN), a major adhesive protein in serum, adsorbs to crocidolite asbestos and increases fiber phagocytosis by mesothelial cells via integrins. Because chrysotile asbestos differs significantly from crocidolite in charge and shape, we asked whether VN would also adsorb to chrys...

Chrysotile-containing joint compound was commonly used in construction of residential and commercial buildings through the mid 1970s; however, these products have not been manufactured in the United States for more than 30 years. Little is known about actual human exposures to chrysotile fibers that may have resulted from use of chrysotile-containing joint compounds, because few exposure and no...

Exposure to chrysotile asbestos exposure is associated with an increased risk of mortality in combination with pulmonary diseases including lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis. Multiple mechanisms by which chrysotile asbestos fibers induce pulmonary disease have been identified, however the role of apoptosis in human lung alveolar epithelial cells (AEC) has not yet been fully explored. Acc...