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Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access published online on
January 7, 2005
Annals of Occupational Hygiene, doi:10.1093/annhyg/meh087
Schwarze, P. E.© 2005 British Occupational Hygiene Society
Received May 21, 2004
Accepted September 21, 2004
Article
Mineral Particles of Varying Composition Induce Differential Chemokine
Release from Epithelial Lung Cells: Importance of Physico-chemical
Characteristics
J. Øvrevik 1, T. Myran 2, M. Refsnes 1, M. Låg 1, R. Becher 1, R. B.
Hetland 1, and P. E. Schwarze 1*

1 Department of Air Pollution and Noise, Division of Environmental
Medicine, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, N-0403 Oslo, Norway
2 Department of Geology and Mineral Resources Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering Science and Technology, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway; Rock and Soil Mechanics, SINTEF,
N-7465 Trondheim, Norway

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
P. E. Schwarze, E-mail: per.schwarze@fhi.no


Abstract

Presently, little is known about the potential health effects of
mineral particles other than asbestos and quartz. In this study, a
human epithelial lung cell line (A549), primary human small airway
epithelial cells (SAECs) and primary rat type 2 (T2) cells were exposed
to stone quarry particles of two size fractions (<10 and <2.5 µm) from
nine different rock samples. The ability to induce the release of
chemokines from lung cells was investigated and compared with the
particles' mineral and element composition and the amount of soluble
elements. The stone particles induced the release of only low levels of
interleukin (IL)-8 from A549 cells. In contrast, some of the other
particles induced the release of high levels of macrophage inflammatory
protein (MIP)-2 from T2 cells, and high levels of IL-8 from SAECs.
Differences in particle surface area could account for differences in
activity between the <10 and <2.5 µm fractions of six out of the nine
rock samples. For two samples the <2.5 µm fraction was most active and
for one sample the <10 µm fraction was most active. Content of the
mineral plagioclase displayed a strong, negative correlation with the
potential to induce MIP-2, whereas the mineral pyroxene was positively
correlated with MIP-2 induction. However, neither plagioclase nor
pyroxene content was sufficient to explain differences in bioactivity
between the particles. No statistically significant correlation was
found between the amounts of total or soluble elements and MIP-2
release. In conclusion, the results suggest that mineral particles with
a high content of plagioclase have a low potential to induce a
pro-inflammatory response. However, a particular mineral or element
responsible for eliciting strong increases in chemokine release could
not be identified. Thus, at present it appears that ****ysing mineral
and element content is insufficient to predict stone particle
bioactivity, and that biological testing is a necessity.


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