Fig. 2

Representative images of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cytospin cytology. The BALF samples obtained from males (blue) and females (pink) exposed to 0 mg/m³ or 50 mg/m³ TiO₂ NPs were stained with May-Grunwald-Giemsa. The area enclosed by the red dotted square in the middle panel is enlarged and shown in the bottom panel. In the BALF of males and females exposed to 50 mg/m³, a marked increase in cell count was observed compared to their respective control groups (top panel of the figure). Particle-phagocytosing macrophages and neutrophils with segmental lobe nuclei (middle and lower panel of the figure) can be seen in the BALF of the TiO₂ exposed rats