TY - JOUR
T1 - Synchrotron X-ray microscopy reveals early calcium and iron interaction with crocidolite fibers in the lung of exposed mice
AU - Pascolo, Lorella
AU - Zabucchi, Giuliano
AU - Gianoncelli, Alessandra
AU - Kourousias, George
AU - Trevisan, Elisa
AU - Pascotto, Ernesto
AU - Casarsa, Claudia
AU - Ryan, Chris
AU - Lucattelli, Monica
AU - Lungarella, Giuseppe
AU - Cavarra, Eleonora
AU - Bartalesi, Barbara
AU - Zweyer, Marina
AU - Cammisuli, Francesca
AU - Melato, Mauro
AU - Borelli, Violetta
PY - 2016/1/22
Y1 - 2016/1/22
N2 - Human exposure to asbestos can cause a wide variety of lung diseases that are still a current major health concern, even if asbestos has been banned in many countries.It has been shown in many studies that asbestos fibers, ingested by alveolar macrophages, disrupt lung iron homeostasis by sequestering iron. Calcium can also be deposited on the fibers. The pathways along which iron and above all calcium interact with fibers are still unknown. Our aim was that of investigating if the iron accumulation induced by the inhaled asbestos fibers also involves calcium ions accumulation. Lung sections of asbestos-exposed mice were analyzed using an extremely sensitive procedure available at the synchrotron facilities, that provides morphological and chemical information based on X-ray fluorescence microspectroscopy (μ-XRF). In this study we show that (1) where conventional histochemical procedures revealed only weak deposits of iron and calcium, μ-XRF analysis is able to detect significant deposits of both iron and calcium on the inhaled asbestos fibers; (2) the extent of the deposition of these ions is proportionally directly related and (3) iron and calcium deposition on inhaled asbestos fibers is concomitant with the appearance of inflammatory and hyperplastic reactions.
AB - Human exposure to asbestos can cause a wide variety of lung diseases that are still a current major health concern, even if asbestos has been banned in many countries.It has been shown in many studies that asbestos fibers, ingested by alveolar macrophages, disrupt lung iron homeostasis by sequestering iron. Calcium can also be deposited on the fibers. The pathways along which iron and above all calcium interact with fibers are still unknown. Our aim was that of investigating if the iron accumulation induced by the inhaled asbestos fibers also involves calcium ions accumulation. Lung sections of asbestos-exposed mice were analyzed using an extremely sensitive procedure available at the synchrotron facilities, that provides morphological and chemical information based on X-ray fluorescence microspectroscopy (μ-XRF). In this study we show that (1) where conventional histochemical procedures revealed only weak deposits of iron and calcium, μ-XRF analysis is able to detect significant deposits of both iron and calcium on the inhaled asbestos fibers; (2) the extent of the deposition of these ions is proportionally directly related and (3) iron and calcium deposition on inhaled asbestos fibers is concomitant with the appearance of inflammatory and hyperplastic reactions.
KW - Animal model
KW - Asbestos
KW - Calcium
KW - Iron
KW - Synchrotron X-ray microscopy
KW - X-ray fluorescence
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U2 - 10.1016/j.toxlet.2015.11.016
DO - 10.1016/j.toxlet.2015.11.016
M3 - Article
C2 - 26602167
AN - SCOPUS:84948756248
VL - 241
SP - 111
EP - 120
JO - Toxicology Letters
JF - Toxicology Letters
SN - 0378-4274
ER -