Cytotoxic effects of aramid fibres on rat pulmonary macrophages: comparison with chrysotile asbestos.

Aramid fibres have been proposed as a substitute for many asbestos uses. Although dimensional characteristics of aramid fibres vary with the type of application, some of the commercial grades proposed contain fibres whose geometry is clearly in a range where biological reactivities have been reported for other natural or man-made fibres. We wish to report that short aramid fibres, when tested on cultures of rat pulmonary alveolar macrophages (PAMs), induce the commonly recognized signs of a cytotoxic effect, that is: leakage of cytoplasmic and lysosomal marker enzymes, concomittant with a decreased ATP cell content.