Closing the knowledge gap on the composition of the asbestos bodies.

Asbestos bodies (AB) form in the lungs as a result of a biomineralization process initiated by the alveolar macrophages in the attempt to remove asbestos. During this process, organic and inorganic material deposit on the foreign fibers forming a Fe-rich coating. The AB start to form in months, thus quickly becoming the actual interface between asbestos and the lung tissue.

Ferruginous bodies exert a strong proinflammatory effect.

One of the main problems related to ferruginous-asbestos bodies (ABs) exposure is their potential pathogenetic role in asbestos-related diseases. The aim of this study was to examine whether purified ABs, might stimulate inflammatory cells. ABs were isolated by exploiting their magnetic properties, therefore avoiding the strong chemical treatment usually employed for this purpose.

bark from a mercury mining district studied with high resolution XANES spectroscopy.

Tree bark near former mercury (Hg) mines and roasting plants is known to have exceptionally high (up to several mg kg) Hg concentrations. This study explores the change of Hg speciation with depth (down to 25-30 mm from the outermost surface) in black pine () bark by means of high-resolution X-ray absorption near edge structure (HR-XANES) spectroscopy at the Hg L-edge. Principal component analysis and linear combination fitting applied to the HR-XANES spectra suggested that in the outermost layer (∼0-2 mm from the surface), roughly 50% of Hg is in the form of nanoparticulate metacinnabar (nano-β-HgS).

Chemo-physical properties of asbestos bodies in human lung tissues studied at the nano-scale by non-invasive, label free x-ray imaging and spectroscopic techniques.

In the lungs, asbestos develops an Fe-rich coating (Asbestos Body, AB) that becomes the actual interface between the foreign fibers and the host organism. Conventional approaches to study ABs require an invasive sample preparation that can alter them. In this work, a novel combination of x-ray tomography and spectroscopy allowed studying unaltered lung tissue samples with chrysotile and crocidolite asbestos.