Lung changes after beryllium inhalation: ultrastructural and morphometric study.

Abstract

Monkeys and dogs were exposed to an environmenl contaminated with beryllium oxide calcinated at 1,400 C. Two years after exposure the lung tissue was investigated fey electron microscopy, using morphometric methods. In both experimental animals and controls, unidentified particles were found inside lysosomes occurring in histiocytes, endothelium, and macrophages. No neoplastic or granulematous pulmonary lesions were observed in any of the beryllium-exposed animals. The mean thickness of the air-blood barrier was not changed in the test animals. Vacuolated interstitial cells, interpreted as degranulated mast cells, were frequently found in both control and test dogs. The beryllium compound investigated did not cause pathological alterations in lung tissue two years after exposure, although it was still deposited in the lung, as demonstrated by spectrographic analysis.