Retention and intracellular distribution of instilled iron oxide particles in human alveolar macrophages

Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) was used to sample retention of particles within the alveolar macrophage (AM) compartment at various times from 1 to 91 d following intrapulmonary instillation of 2.6-mu m-diameter iron oxide (Fe2O3) particles in human subjects. Particles were cleared from the lavagable AM compartment in a biphasic pattern, with a rapid-phase clearance half-time of 0.5 d and long-term clearance half-time of 110 d, comparable to retention kinetics determined by more traditional methods. The intracellular distribution of particles within lavaged AMs was similar in bronchial and alveolar BAL fractions. AMs with high intracellular particle burdens disappeared from the lavagable phagocytic AM population disproportionately more rapidly (shorter clearance half-time) than did AMs with lower particle burdens, consistent with the occurrence of a particle redistribution phenomenon as previously described in similar studies in rats. The rates of AM disappearance from the various particle burden categories was generally slightly slower in bronchial fractions than in alveolar fractions. The instillation of particles induced a transient acute inflammatory response at 24 h postinstillation (PI), characterized by increased numbers of neutrophils and alveolar macrophages in BAL fluids. This response was subclinical and was resolved within 4 d PI.