Urn models and their application

Abstract

Boiling of chrysotile of the textile brand PRZh1-50 in concentrated hydrochloric acid for 10, 15, and 20 minutes gave rise to three chrysotile-asbestos samples. The content of MgO decreased from to 24, 19, and 9%, respectively. As compared with the baseline values, the number and force of positively charged electrical centers were less in the samples containing 24 and 19% MgO and more in the sample having 9% MgO; the negatively charged centers were present in the former two samples and absent in the third one. When the samples were intrapleurally administered to rats, their hemolytic activity, induction of active oxygen radicals, mutagenic activity (micronuclear test using murine bone marrow cells), and the frequency of mesotheliomas were less in the treated samples than in the baseline ones; but there were no differences between the treated samples. Thus, the altered physicochemical properties of the fibrillar surface of asbestos diminished its biological aggressiveness; however, increased treatment rates failed to lead to its further decrease. There was no relationship of the biological properties to the number and force of electric charges of the surface.