ABSTRACT
Objective@#To establish an animal model of hard metal lung disease (HMLD) in rats, and to screen the indications for diagnosis of HMLD.@*Methods@#The rats were randomly divided into 5 groups, each group included 8 rats: saline group, pure cobalt group, pure tungsten carbide group, silica group and hard metal (HM) group. 10 mg subjects were administered in each group by using the pulmonary endotracheal tube. After 8 week, the lung CT scan and lung tissue pathology were observed, the serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were collected for KL-6, TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta2.@*Results@#The lung tissue structure of HM group was destroyed, a large number of nuclear giant cells and epithelial like cells appeared in the stroma, and uncommon CT scan images appeared in the lung. KL-6, TGF-beta1, TGF-beta2 expression in each group was not the same, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . The expression of KL-6 and TGF-beta1 in serum was not identical in all the groups, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) . The expression of TGF-beta2 had no significant difference between the groups (P>0.05) .@*Conclusion@#Rats can be successfully established HMLD model, rats in vivo lung CT scan images appear abnormal, which are provided with assistant diagnostic value for HMLD. The expression of KL-6 and TGF-beta2 in serum and BALF on HMLD rats are not highly specific, and TGF-beta1 has reference value in the rat HMLD auxiliary diagnosis.