Occurrence of Hair-Fragment Emboli in the Pulmonary Vascular System of Rats

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Abstract
In a series of subacute intravenous toxicity studies, saline solution or test material dissolved in saline was injected into the tail vein of rats for periods of 7–30 days. After treatment, the rats were killed and no gross lesions were seen. Microscopically, lungs from control and test animals had foreign-body emboli in pulmonary arteries. The emboli consisted mostly of fragments of hair follicles surrounded by foreign-body giant cells. A perivascular or endovascular inflammatory response involved blood vessels that contained these emboli. Opalescent material or fragments of hair follicles also were present in the center of some of the emboli; it was thought to be keratin since it had the same birefringent character as epidermal keratin. These foreign materials were introduced into the circulation during the intravenous injections.

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