Abstract
ABSTRACT
A new stereological analysis of microspheres retained in the intrapulmonary conducting airways of one hamster was performed. The anesthetized, spontaneously breathing animal inhaled an aerosol of 6 μm polystyrene microspheres for 30 minutes through an intratracheal tube. Immediately thereafter the lungs were fixed in situ by intravascular perfusion. For the first time an unbiased stereological technique, known as the fractionator method, was used, to estimate on light microscopic sections the total number of particles retained in the sol–phase of the intrapulmonary conducting airways. Moreover, the structural association of these microspheres was shown. They were in close contact with the epithelium and a considerable number of the particles had already been ingested by airway macrophages.
The presented techniques allowed the quantitative analysis of particles retained in the lungs, their anatomical localization and their allocation to specific structures. Therefore, they can contribute considerably to a better understanding of the mechanisms of retention and clearance of particles in the intrapulmonary conducting airways and of the role the airway macrophages play during these processes.
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