Bronchopulmonary cellular response to aluminum and zirconium salts

The bronchopulmonary cellular immunological response to repeated intratracheal inoculation of aluminum chlorhydrate, sodium zirconium lactate, and zirconium aluminum glycine was examined in rabbits. Results of a dose-response experiment using 0.1, 1.0, and 10.0-mg intratracheal inoculations of each metallic salt demonstrated significant bronchopulmonary histopathology in the 10.0-mg dose-response groups only. Acute lesions were histologically characterized by an inflammatory response centered around respiratory bronchioles. Although epithelioid cell formation was evident in 10.0 mg of aluminum salt (aluminum chlorhydrate and zirconium aluminum glycine) -injected animals, no well-defined granulomas characterized by an orderly arrangement of epithelioid cells, lymphocytes, and giant cells were evident in any of the experimental groups employed. All three metallic salts induced "activated" bronchopulmonary macrophages as determined by an in vitro phagocytic assay. This activation was likely nonimmunological since no measurable differences were observed in metallic salt-induced delayed skin reactivity or migration inhibition factor production between inoculated and uninoculated rabbits. The above observations suggest that aluminum and zirconium salts administered in comparatively high dosage via the respiratory tract route can induce respiratory bronchiolitis and activation of alveolar macrophages in the absence of demonstrable delayed hypersensitivity.