Particle distribution in lung and lymph node tissues of rats and dogs and the migration of particle‐containing alveolar cells in vitro

Abstract

Whole rat lungs and individual dog lung lobes were instilled either with low numbers (10⁷) or high numbers (10⁹) of fluorescent polystyrene microspheres (PLM), or with saline alone. Particle distributions in dog and rat lung lobes and tracheobronchial lymph nodes (TBLN) were studied up to several weeks after particle instillations using methacrylate‐embedded tissues and epifluorescence light microscopy. Free alveolar cells were obtained from rats and dogs by lung lavage 1 or 7 d after particle instillations. Lavaged cells were tested for directed migration toward the chemoattractant N‐formylmethionyl‐leucyl‐phenylalanine (FMLP). Random migration in the absence of the FMLP was used as a control. The dog lung interstitium contained many more particles than did the rat lung interstitium, and particle numbers in interstitial and TBLN cells of dogs were higher than in those of rats. FMLP enhanced the number of migrating cells about twofold. Increasing particle numbers in lavaged phagocytes (>10 particles/phagocyte in dogs; >20 particles/phagocyte in rats) decreased their ability to migrate. The higher fractions of particles in the dog lung interstitium are thought to be an important reason for prolonged retention and increased TBLN transport of deposited particles in dogs as compared with rats. Our results suggest that cell mobility is lost after ingestion of high numbers of particles, and that this occurs earlier with dog than with rat lung cells.