Publications by authors named "Tadao Toya"

Asbestos, especially chrysotile, continues to be exposed to humans globally. Hence, it should be disposed properly to prevent asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma and lung cancer. This study aimed to verify whether forsterite, a heating product of chrysotile, can cause carcinogenicity, particularly mesothelioma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To evaluate pulmonary toxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), F344 rats of both sexes were exposed by inhalation to 0.2, 1 or 5 mg/m(3) MWCNT aerosol for 6 h/day, 5 days/week for 2 weeks using a whole-body exposure system. At the end of the 2-week exposure period, one-half of the rats were necropsied, and at the end of an additional 4-week postexposure period, the remaining rats were necropsied.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A new system for generating and exposing multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) aerosols for whole-body inhalation has been developed, utilizing a cyclone and sieve.
  • The system was tested at various concentrations (0.2, 1, and 5 mg/m³) and consistently produced aerosols with a similar particle size distribution.
  • An animal study exposed rats to MWCNT aerosols for 6 hours at the highest concentration, resulting in significant lung inflammation and other health effects, indicating the system's efficacy for further inhalation studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chrysotile (CH), the most common form of asbestos, is rendered less toxic by heating it at 1000°C and converting it to forsterite (FO-1000). However, further safety tests are needed to evaluate human health risk of these materials. It has been reported that serum concentrations of megakaryocyte potentiating factor N-ERC/mesothelin become elevated in patients with mesotheliomas caused by asbestos exposure.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In order to assess pulmonary toxicity of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), male F344 rats were intratracheally instilled with MWCNT suspension at a dose of 40 or 160 μg/head or α-quartz particles as a positive control at a dose of 160 μg/head and sacrificed for lung histopathology and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid analyses on Day 1, 7, 28 or 91 after instillation. Well-dispersed MWCNT brought about dose- or time-dependent changes in lung weight, total proteins, albumin, lactate dehydrogenase and alkaline phosphatase in the BAL fluid, and pulmonary lesions including inflammation, Type II cell hyperplasia, microgranulomas and fibrosis. Phagocytosed and free forms of MWCNT were found in both bronchiolar and alveolar spaces.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In order to examine the short-, medium- and long-term effects of cerium dioxide particles of different sizes on the lung, 10-wk-old male Wistar rats were administered a physiological saline solution with a suspension of coarse or fine particles of cerium dioxide at 34 mg/kg body weight by a single intratracheal instillation. Lungs were examined with cellular and biochemical analyses of the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and histopathology on different days after the instillation. Geometric mean and geometric standard deviation of the diameter were 3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chrysotile (CH) is a pathogenic waste building material that can potentially be rendered innocuous via conversion to forsterite (FO) by heating at high temperatures. We compared the ability of FO and CH to cause oxidative DNA damage and lung injury. A single 1-mg intratracheal dose of CH or FO was administered to rats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The dissolution rates of rare earth oxides and two types of rare earth containing functional materials into water, saline solution, and Gamble's fluid were measured in order to evaluate the biological effects of rare earth-containing functional materials. The tested materials were yttrium, lanthanum, cerium and neodymium oxides, and neodymium-boron-iron magnet alloy (NdBFe) and lanthanum-mish-metal-nickel-cobalt (LmNiCo) hydrogen-containing alloy. The dissolution rates of the rare earth oxides were very low, resulting in concentrations of rare earth elements in the test solutions of the order of ppb.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The effects of inhaled particulate matter in the workplace and outdoor environment on sensitive subpopulations are not sufficiently investigated in human and animal models. Thus, animal models for pulmonary diseases are necessary for appropriate risk assessment of toxic materials. We studied biochemical characteristics of an acute inflammatory process induced by inhalation of nickel chloride aerosols in rats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We compared in vivo biological effects, focusing on lung inflammatory responses after a single intratracheal administration of two types of well-characterized whiskers: potassium octatitanate and potassium hexatitanate, which have similar fiber sizes and chemical compositions, except their surface morphology. The geometrical mean of length (microm), width (microm), and geometric standard deviation (GSD) are: K(2)Ti(8)O(17) (PT1), 6.0[2.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF