Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?

Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) is a rare disease involving concentric bronchiolar fibrosis that develops rapidly following inhalation of certain irritant gases at sufficiently high acute doses. While there are many potential causes of bronchiolar lesions involved in a variety of chronic lung diseases...

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Main Authors: Brent D. Kerger, M. Joseph Fedoruk
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2015-01-01
Series:Toxicology Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214750015300767
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author Brent D. Kerger
M. Joseph Fedoruk
author_facet Brent D. Kerger
M. Joseph Fedoruk
author_sort Brent D. Kerger
collection DOAJ
description Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) is a rare disease involving concentric bronchiolar fibrosis that develops rapidly following inhalation of certain irritant gases at sufficiently high acute doses. While there are many potential causes of bronchiolar lesions involved in a variety of chronic lung diseases, failure to clearly define the clinical features and pathological characteristics can lead to ambiguous diagnoses. Irritant gases known to cause BO follow a similar pathologic process and time course of disease onset in humans. Studies of inhaled irritant gases known to cause BO (e.g., chlorine, hydrochloric acid, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, sulfur or nitrogen mustards, and phosgene) indicate that the time course between causal chemical exposures and development of clinically significant BO disease is typically limited to a few months. The mechanism of toxic action exerted by these irritant gases generally involves widespread and severe injury of the epithelial lining of the bronchioles that leads to acute respiratory symptoms which can include lung edema within days. Repeated exposures to inhaled irritant gases at concentrations insufficient to cause marked respiratory distress or edema may lead to adaptive responses that can reduce or prevent severe bronchiolar fibrotic changes. Risk of BO from irritant gases is driven substantially by toxicokinetics affecting concentrations occurring at the bronchiolar epithelium. Highly soluble irritant gases that cause BO like ammonia generally follow a threshold-dependent cytotoxic mechanism of action that at sufficiently high doses results in severe inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and the bronchiolar epithelium concurrently. This is followed by acute respiratory distress, pulmonary edema, and post inflammatory concentric fibrosis that become clinically obvious within a few months. In contrast, irritant gases with lower solubility like phosgene also follow a threshold-dependent mechanism of cytotoxicity action but can exhibit more insidious and isolated bronchiolar tissue damage with a similar latency to fibrosis. To date, animal and human studies on the highly soluble gas, diacetyl, have not identified a coherent pattern of pathology and latency that would be expected based on studies of other known causes of bronchiolitis obliterans disease.
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spelling doaj.art-ea0a87be97a14b9e81f2840d2fa8b56f2022-12-22T01:35:25ZengElsevierToxicology Reports2214-75002015-01-012C1463147210.1016/j.toxrep.2015.10.012Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?Brent D. KergerM. Joseph FedorukBronchiolitis obliterans (BO) is a rare disease involving concentric bronchiolar fibrosis that develops rapidly following inhalation of certain irritant gases at sufficiently high acute doses. While there are many potential causes of bronchiolar lesions involved in a variety of chronic lung diseases, failure to clearly define the clinical features and pathological characteristics can lead to ambiguous diagnoses. Irritant gases known to cause BO follow a similar pathologic process and time course of disease onset in humans. Studies of inhaled irritant gases known to cause BO (e.g., chlorine, hydrochloric acid, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, sulfur or nitrogen mustards, and phosgene) indicate that the time course between causal chemical exposures and development of clinically significant BO disease is typically limited to a few months. The mechanism of toxic action exerted by these irritant gases generally involves widespread and severe injury of the epithelial lining of the bronchioles that leads to acute respiratory symptoms which can include lung edema within days. Repeated exposures to inhaled irritant gases at concentrations insufficient to cause marked respiratory distress or edema may lead to adaptive responses that can reduce or prevent severe bronchiolar fibrotic changes. Risk of BO from irritant gases is driven substantially by toxicokinetics affecting concentrations occurring at the bronchiolar epithelium. Highly soluble irritant gases that cause BO like ammonia generally follow a threshold-dependent cytotoxic mechanism of action that at sufficiently high doses results in severe inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and the bronchiolar epithelium concurrently. This is followed by acute respiratory distress, pulmonary edema, and post inflammatory concentric fibrosis that become clinically obvious within a few months. In contrast, irritant gases with lower solubility like phosgene also follow a threshold-dependent mechanism of cytotoxicity action but can exhibit more insidious and isolated bronchiolar tissue damage with a similar latency to fibrosis. To date, animal and human studies on the highly soluble gas, diacetyl, have not identified a coherent pattern of pathology and latency that would be expected based on studies of other known causes of bronchiolitis obliterans disease.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214750015300767Fibrotic lung diseaseFixed obstructive lung diseaseHumanFood flavorings
spellingShingle Brent D. Kerger
M. Joseph Fedoruk
Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?
Toxicology Reports
Fibrotic lung disease
Fixed obstructive lung disease
Human
Food flavorings
title Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?
title_full Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?
title_fullStr Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?
title_full_unstemmed Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?
title_short Pathology, toxicology, and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease: Does diacetyl fit the pattern?
title_sort pathology toxicology and latency of irritant gases known to cause bronchiolitis obliterans disease does diacetyl fit the pattern
topic Fibrotic lung disease
Fixed obstructive lung disease
Human
Food flavorings
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214750015300767
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