Differences in dissolution behavior in a phagolysosomal simulant fluid for single-constituent and multi-constituent materials associated with beryllium sensitization and chronic beryllium disease

Abstract Particle dissolution within macrophage phagolysosomes is hypothesized to be an important source of dissolved beryllium for input to the cell-mediated immune reaction associated with development of beryllium sensitization and chronic beryllium disease (CBD). To better understand the dissolution of beryllium materials associated with elevated prevalence of sensitization and CBD, single-constituent (beryllium oxide (BeO) particles sampled from a screener operation, finished product BeO powder, finish product beryllium metal powder) and multi-constituent (particles sampled from an arc furnace during processing of copper–beryllium alloy) aerosol materials were studied. Dissolution rates were measured using phagolysosomal simulant fluid (PSF) in a static dissolution technique and then normalized to measured values of specific surface area to calculate a chemical dissolution rate constant ( k ) for each material. Values of k , in g/(cm 2  day), for screener BeO particles (1.3 ± 1.9 × 10 −8 ) and for BeO powder (1.1 ± 0.5 × 10 −8 ) were similar ( p  = 0.45). The value of k observed for beryllium metal powder (1.1 ± 1.4 × 10 −7 ) was significantly greater than observed for the BeO materials ( p k (1.6 ± 0.6 × 10 −7 ) was significantly greater than observed for the BeO materials ( p