Localization and health effects of lanthanum chloride instilled intratracheally into rats

Lanthanum (La) is one of the rare earths used in diverse high technology fields for which sufficient data for assessing its health effects have been lacking. The biological effects and metabolic behaviors of La were studied by instilling lanthanum chloride intratracheally into male Wistar rats. The distribution of La among tissues revealed that the metal remains mostly in the lung with a biological half-time of 244 days. The subcellular localization by transmission electron microscopy with an X-ray microanalyzer indicated that La localizes in macrophages as high electron-dense granular inclusions in lysosomes and on the cell surface and basement membranes of type I pneumocytes among lung cells. The pulmonary health effects were examined by biological indices of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and lung tissue. The acute toxicity estimated by lactate dehydrogenase activity in BALF was comparable to those of yttrium and copper that had been determined under the same protocol. Microscopic examination of the lung indicated a characteristic increase in the number of eosinophils.