ABSTRACT
This chapter considers nonneoplastic asbestos-induced lung disease. There are two major types of asbestos, serpentine and amphibole, and both induce a fibrogenic condition leading to a "stiff" or noncompliant lung and concomitant shortness of breath. Whole-body exposure method is less labour intensive and allows more animals to be exposed in a single chamber. Although rats and mice have been most convenient and have proven to provide a reliable and consistent model, there is reason to believe that virtually any animal could be useful in inhalation studies. There are two modes of exposing animals to aerosolized particulates and gases, whole body and nose-only. Since this brief exposure results in an interstitial lesion in which there are increased volumes and numbers of cells, the earliest evidence of proliferation in animals injected with tritiated thymidine was studied. Tissues are prepared for light microscopy as well as scanning and transmission electron microscopy.
