[Phospholipidosis induced by chlorimipramine in rat lung]

12 male Sprague-Dawley rats were given chlorimipramine through gastric sound at a daily dose of 150 mg/Kg body weight for two weeks. From the rats, killed at the end of the treatment, were collected lung fragments, some of which were examined by electron microscopy and others by light microscopy, following particular fixation and colouring procedures. The light microscopy revealed that many alveoli contained numerous cells, large and clear, the cytoplasma of which contained vacuoles of different dimensions, for which these cells appeared from " foam cells". Besides, they reacted positively to the method of Baker and were intensely coloured in dark grey, after fixation with osmium tetroxide-natrium iodide. The ultrastructural examination evidentiated two main types of cells: the first comprised large, round cells, classifiable as alveolar macrophages while the second type comprised cells that were classifiable as type II alveolar cells, in which, apart from important mitochondrial modifications, numerous vacuoles of different sizes were detectable. The AA. consider the alterations of the type II alveolar cells as a characteristic morphological aspect of phospholipidosis from chlorimipramine.