Ready evaluation of lung alveolar toxic damage with histological sections morphometry.

In this experiment we aimed at developping a method of ready evaluation of lung alveolar toxic damage using morphometric measurements. Swiss-Webster mice were treated with different doses of diquat (i.p.) and the left lung was fixed at 0, 3, and 5 days after treatment. The technique of morphometry of histological sections embedded in glycol methacrylate (GMA) was used to quantify possible modifications of alveolar cells. Quantitative evaluation includes: alveolar macrophages, polymorphonuclear cells, type II and intermediate pneumocytes. The results indicate a lung dose-dependent response, observed in both inflammatory and epithelial regeneration components of the alveolar primary reaction. This method could be used to readily evaluate the pulmonary toxic potential of any substance.