Comparative pathological aspects of chronic olivine and silica inhalation in mice.

A comparative study was done in mice on the effects of silica and olivine inhalation. The exposure periods in the dust chambers were for periods of 150, 300, and 570 days, with the longest time period covering a large portion of the predicted life span of the Balb/c mouse. Detailed necropsies including histology were done at the end of the exposures and at 30 and 150 days following removal of animals from the 150- and 300-day dust exposures. The results indicate that silica causes considerably more tissue damage in lungs and mediastinal lymph nodes, leading to granulomas.