THE NATURE OF LESIONS CAUSED BY ASBESTOS AND MICA IN EXPERIMENTAL PNEUMOKONIOSIS IN GUINEA-PIGS

Abstract

1. The pathological changes taking place in the various tissues with special reference to lungs, in response to the inhalation of mica and asbestos dusts, have been studied in guinea-pigs using Hilton and Kettle technique.

2. It has been shown that in the case of lung, mica dust predisposes to nodular formation whereas asbestos dust causes only diffuse fibrosis.

3. The outstanding pathology may be in the lung and the disturbance of lung lesions may dominate the picture, but with long continued exposure to dusts lesions developed in other organs.

4. The role of morphological chemistry of the dust in causing definite pathological changes, with special reference to silicosis, is emphasised and has been shown that in addition to atomic structure of the mineral and nature of the cleavage of the mineral is also intimately related to the production of silicosis.