Release of metals and dissolution of mineral fibres in THP1 macrophagic cell-line systems exposed to chrysotile asbestos

Pathogenic mechanisms of absestos-related diseases are still not well understood. In chrysotile, the most commercialized asbestos, Fe and other toxic metals are worth considering in its pathogenicity. Their release is strictly connected to that of Mg when fibres are dissolved in the lung environment. In vitro THP1-cells studies with chrysotile fibres, reporting the contribution of Fe in cells mortality, demonstrated the formation of aggregated structures of both fibrous and non-fibrous species. In these clusters, we identified micrometric iron compounds by Raman spectroscopy as Fe oxides and sulphides. Dissolution products herein needs further investigation, especially in the spatial distribution of elemental Fe and toxic metals. Synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence mapping and micro-XANES analyses are expected to clarify the metals mobilization mechanism, highlighting both their intracellular spatial distribution and the changes in their valence state.