INVESTIGATION INTO THE CYTOTOXICITY OF RESPIRABLE DUSTS FROM BRITISH COLLIERIES

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 60  (5) , 526-536
Abstract
A series of respirable dusts from British collieries was collected and analyzed for mineral content and physical characteristics. Where possible, 2 samples of dust were collected from the same site at 8-mo. intervals. All dusts were tested for their cytotoxic potential using a permanent line of macrophage-like cells (P388 D1). For some dusts, a hemolytic technique was used. With both techniques a positive overall correlation was found between cytotoxicity and the total ash content of the dusts. When the results from collieries producing high- and low-rank coals were considered separately, it was found that the ash content of high-rank dusts (r [correlation coefficient] = 0.75) showed a much closer correlation with cytotoxicity than low-rank dusts (r = 0.40). With the cell test system the ash components, kaolin and mica (r = 0.58) and to a lesser extent quartz (r = 0.48) showed significant positive correlations with cytotoxicity for high-rank coal dusts but not for low. Using the hemolytic system, only the quartz content of the high-rank dusts showed a significant relationship (r = 0.69) to levels of hemoglobin release. Both the results of mineralogical analysis of dust samples and cytotoxicity tests showed that the mineral content and cytotoxic potential of dusts collected from the same colliery, and even from the same underground site, at different times, varied considerably. A poor correlation was found between the cytotoxicity and various measurements of pneumoconiosis risk but this may be partly due to the variation of dust composition with time. The results agree with those of previous work on coal dust toxicity, in that both the rank and composition of colliery dusts were of importance, whereas the role of quartz remained enigmatic.