Activation of Alveolar Macrophages after Plutonium Oxide Inhalation in Rats: Involvement in the Early Inflammatory Response

Abstract Van der Meeren, A., Tourdes, F., Gremy, O., Grillon, G., Abram, M-C., Poncy, J-L. and Griffiths, N. Activation of Alveolar Macrophages after Plutonium Oxide Inhalation in Rats: Involvement in the Early Inflammatory Response. Radiat. Res. 170, 591––603 (2008). Alveolar macrophages play an important role in the distribution, clearance and inflammatory reactions after particle inhalation, which may influence long-term events such as fibrosis and tumorigenesis. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the early inflammatory events after plutonium oxide inhalation in rats and involvement of alveolar macrophages. Lung changes were studied from 3 days to 3 months after inhalation of PuO2 of different isotopic compositions (70% or 97% 239Pu) and initial lung deposits (range 2.1 to 43.4 kBq/rat). Analyses of bronchoalveolar lavages showed early increases in the numbers of granulocytes, lymphocytes and multinucleated macrophages. The activation of macrophages was evaluated ex vivo by measure...