US EPA

3084858 

Journal Article 

Electron microscope characteristics of inhaled chrysotile asbestos fibre 

Pooley, FD 

1972 

Yes 

British Journal of Industrial Medicine
ISSN: 0007-1072 

HEEP/74/02030 

29 

2 

146-153 

English 

5021995 

10.1136/oem.29.2.146 

HEEP COPYRIGHT: BIOL ABS. Specimens from 300 lungs were examined under the electron microscope to determine the morphology and diffraction characteristics of any chrysotile asbestos they contained. In 120 cases, material was prepared by alkali digestion and the residual dust was examined. In all cases standard 6 mu histological slides were partially ashed before the residue was transferred to the electron microscope grids. Of the 300 specimens examined, 20 came from men with prolonged industrial exposure to chrysotile, 87 from cases of mesothelioma and the remainder from control groups drawn from rural and industrial populations. Chrysotile fibers were readily identified by the characteristic polycrystalline diffraction pattern. The hollow appearance of the single fibers and their shape and arrangement also help in the identification. Specimens from men without industrial exposure contained either single short fibers or aggregates scattered throughout the lungs. In specimens from industrially exposed men, fibers were very numerous and found as strands of single fibers mainly grouped together in discrete locations. Ferruginous bodies were found rarely and only on straight fiber bundles of over several micrometers in length.