Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Int J Toxicol. 2011 Oct;30(5):538-45. doi: 10.1177/1091581811413831.
The toxicity of 3 chemical forms of beryllium (Be) was compared in this study. A total of 160 mice equally divided into 4 groups were exposed by inhalation (nose only) for 3 consecutive weeks, 5 d/week, 6 h/d. One group was used as control, while the 3 others were exposed to fine particles of Be metal, Be oxide (BeO), or Be aluminum (BeAl). Except for the controls, the target level of exposure was 250 μg/m(3). In all, 35 mice/group were sacrificed 1 week postexposure and another 5 mice 3 weeks postexposure. The BeO group showed the highest lung Be concentration with higher interleukin 12 (IL-12) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) levels, while the Be group produced the most severe lung inflammation and higher tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and CD4+ T cells levels. Data suggested that Be and BeO apparently produced more pulmonary toxicity than BeAl. However, this conclusion is not definitive, because of different confounding factors such as particle sizes, specific surface area, and solubility.
本研究比较了 3 种化学形态的铍（Be）的毒性。将 160 只小鼠等分为 4 组，通过鼻腔吸入（仅鼻腔）暴露于 3 种铍化合物中，连续 3 周，每周 5 天，每天 6 小时。一组用作对照，另外 3 组暴露于铍金属、氧化铍（BeO）或铝酸铍（BeAl）的细颗粒中。除对照组外，其余组的目标暴露水平均为 250μg/m3。所有组中，每组有 35 只小鼠在暴露后 1 周，另外 5 只在暴露后 3 周被处死。BeO 组的肺 Be 浓度最高，白细胞介素 12（IL-12）和干扰素-γ（IFN-γ）水平也较高，而 Be 组产生的肺部炎症最严重，肿瘤坏死因子-α（TNF-α）和 CD4+T 细胞水平也较高。数据表明，与 BeAl 相比，Be 和 BeO 显然会产生更严重的肺毒性。然而，由于颗粒大小、比表面积和溶解度等不同的混杂因素，这一结论并不确定。
