Fig. 2

Cytology and cytokines/chemokine levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids 24 h after instillation with the NMs. Rats were instilled after hyperventilation with suspensions of TiO₂ (NM105, NM101, NM100) and CeO₂ (NM212). After sacrifice, bronchoalveolar lavages were performed using PBS. The bronchoalveolar lavage fluids were recovered and centrifuged to separate cells from supernatant. For cytology analysis, the cells were resuspended in RMPI medium and then seeded on slides at 300000 cells/spots using a cytospin and then fixated and coloured in May-Grunwald Giemsa. The percentage of different cell types in BALF was determined using optical microscopy. For cytokine/chemokine analysis, supernatants were dosed using ELISA multiplex to determine IL-1β, IL-6, KC-GRO and TNF-α levels. Data represent the mean ± SD of six animals. Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s post-hoc test were performed to compare treated groups to controls (*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001)