Effect of BCG on Lymphatic Lung Clearance of Dusts With Different Fibrogenicity

Abstract

The transport of titanium dioxide, amorphous silica, heated amorphous silica, and quartz from the lungs to the hilar lymph nodes, and the weight reaction of these organs, were studied on BCG-treated and control rats.

BCG treatment increases the retention in the lungs of all the dusts studied and decreases it In the hilar lymph nodes. Thus, the dust transport from the lungs via the lymphatics is obliterated by BCG, and both “inert” and fibrogenic dusts are, to a significant degree, transported by this route.

The combined effects of BCG and fibrogenic dusts tend to be more pronounced in the lungs and less pronounced in the hilar lymph nodes than the sum of the separate BCG and dust effects.