Pulmonary responses to atmospheric pollutants. I: an ultrastructural study of fibrosing alveolitis evoked by petrol vapour.

Rats exposed to an atmosphere contaminated with petrol vapour at a concentration of 100 parts per million for up to 12 weeks exhibit a high incidence of electron microscopic changes in the lung parenchyma characterized by interstitial fibrosis with associated alveolar collapse. Initial changes appearing after 6 weeks include degeneration of endothelium and interstitial fibroblasts followed by hypertrophy of Type 2 pneumocytes. Subsequent degeneration of surfactant organelles of the hypertrophied Type 2 pneumocytes correlates with the appearance of focal alveolar collapse and associated interstitial fibrosis. Because of the rapidity with which lesions are induced in the rat lung, this experimental technique provides an economical and reproducible model for an integrated study of the sequential morphological and biochemical events preceding pulmonary fibrosis which might well lead to a better understanding of the enigmatic human syndrome of fibrosing alveolitis.