A Method Of Staining The Asbestosis Bodies Found In The Sputum Of Asbestos Workers

Our plain-English summary of A Method Of Staining The Asbestosis Bodies Found In The Sputum Of Asbestos Workers, by S.R. Gloyne (1931).

The study

• Author: S.R. Gloyne
• Published: Journal Of Industrial Hygiene 13(3):85-86, March (1931)
• Type of article: Journal article
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library, J-M no. 003064. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This 1931 article, by a pathologist at the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Heart and Lungs, described a laboratory method for staining the "asbestosis bodies" found in the sputum of asbestos workers. The sputum was digested and centrifuged, and the deposit was then treated with one of several agents. With hematoxylin the bodies turned dark brown to black, although the stain seemed to be deposited on them rather than truly taken up. With a Prussian blue mixture they turned a brilliant blue. With ammonium sulphide they turned black. With these last two methods the bodies were evenly stained. A potassium ferricyanide mixture gave variable results. The author reported that staining made details easier to see than in unstained samples, including the central core of asbestos fiber and cracks in the segments. The author concluded that the reactions support the view that iron is part of the bodies. The asbestos used in the factory that produced the hospital's cases was described as the group including crocidolite, amosite and tremolite.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Laboratory methods note describing a staining technique for asbestosis bodies in sputum
• Who was studied: Sputum from asbestos workers seen as cases at the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Heart and Lungs, London; the number of patients or samples is not given
• Exposure: Workers from a factory that, according to the author, used the asbestos group comprising crocidolite, amosite and tremolite (described as high in iron oxides), rather than chrysotile
• Main results:
  • With hematoxylin, the asbestosis bodies became dark brown to black
  • The hematoxylin appeared to be deposited on the bodies rather than actually taken up as a stain
  • With the Prussian blue (potassium ferrocyanide and hydrochloric acid) mixture, the bodies were colored a brilliant blue
  • A potassium ferricyanide mixture gave variable results: some bodies stained and others did not
  • With ammonium sulphide, the bodies were colored black, and this color could be removed with hydrochloric acid
  • With the ferrocyanide or ammonium sulphide technique, the bodies were stained evenly throughout
  • Staining made the central core of asbestos fiber stand out clearly, and made the segments and cracks easier to distinguish than in unstained preparations
  • The hematoxylin reaction was inferior to the reactions given by the other methods
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the technique showed the fine details of asbestosis bodies better than unstained preparations, and that the reactions support the view that iron enters into the composition of the bodies

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Sputum, Crocidolite, Amosite, Tremolite.

Browse return to medical research.