Speculative Biology maybe?

>>2245696
I think something like a mechanical filter or anything avoidance based would not work, this needs something actively dealing with the problem at a cellular level.

One thing that I can think of that wouldn't be too far fetched is macrophages patrolling the lung that actively take up the asbestos fibers and wander to the respiratory epithelium epithelium once they are "full" to be dumped out via mucus, so your creature would be constantly coughing up or leaking asbestos slime.

This isn't too far fetched because we have a system exactly like it in place with our alveolar macrophages that remove dust and stuff. They can't recognize asbestos though because it's too small, so you really only need a small change to make this work.

Also the actual lung cells would have a higher division rate to replace damaged ones.

>>2245705

holy fuck.
drooling asbestos slime. That sounds wonderfully horrifying. Where could I read more about this? Should I just get cracking on a wikipedia article about how lungs work in general?
Asbestos particles are smaller than macrophages? Hot damn

>>2245705
>>2245805

Galapagos marine iguanas do this with salt they consume while foraging in the surf for seaweed.

Maybe the lung works like a uterus. Once every month, the animal vomits up its lung (lining) that's covered in dead tissue, mucus, and contaminants.

>>2245867
That might actually work.
Lungs are "spongey" to increase surface area so a little more complicated but concept wise it seems sound.

>>2245805
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrDbiKQOtlU
>Asbestos particles are smaller than macrophages? Hot damn
Asbestos particles are smaller than almost anything. That's why they're such a huge problem. And macrophages are pretty big cells in general. You can think of alveolar macrophages like amoeba that roam our lung and clean it and the respiratory epithelium (among other things) is covered by a layer of ciliated cells that constantly beat to produce a stream of mucus that carries stuff out of your lungs. Ever noticed how there is actually constantly slime coming up your throat?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMB6flEaZwI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQwqhblxz3I

Without these systems you would probably be dead within a week.

what about something that used it skin to breathe?
Or gills?

>>2245895
I don't think that would work. People think of lungs like air filled sacks or airy sponges.
They're not (at least mammal lungs).
If you ever held a lung you'll know it's actually quite tough and heavy. The sponge like structure is incredibly fine and dense and there's a lot of blood in them. Drawings can't show this. They're more like those foam plates filled with water. I don't think coughing up the "lining" to this would really work.

>>2245925
most insects use passive respiration or a partial "diaphragm" but it doesn't work for large animals

I too liked Ulver's Shadows of the Sun album. Best one.

File: kys fag.png (84KB, 391x185px) Image search: [Google]

84KB, 391x185px

>>2245696
why are you like this

>>2245897
alright I watched those videos and did some additional digging of my own. It seems the problem with asbestos and macrophages is that the asbestos fibers aren't particularly digestible to the macrophage will just store them, which causes irritation in the cell and the cell will responsively cause inflammation in the general area. And in the case with amphibole fibers, in pictures it looks like the fibers are just stabbing right out of the the macrophage. I figured I'd just focus on chrysotile fibers though, since that type is the most common around asbestos mines, where I want my creature to exist.
So would I simply need a specialized lung macrophage with a more corrosive digestive enzyme to patrol the lung instead?
And a more viscous mucous in the lung, because that sounds gross and fun? Could the mucous also be corrosive, similar to stomach acid? Am I getting to autistic?

>>2246342
>more corrosive digestive enzyme
You're not gonna corrode asbestos. That shit withstands temperatures of thousands of degrees without corroding. You need fluorides to dissolve it which is not gonna happen in a living body.

If we want to stay in the realm of plausibility we have to ask ourselves what the simplest way to deal with the problem is that requires the least amount of change as that is the most likely possibility.
In my opinion this can be achieved by evolving a way to recognize asbestos that the cell takes up and measure the amount, then at a certain critical amount it triggers a signal cascade that induces the cell to wander up to the respiratory epithelium where it is simply removed from the body.
A simple signaling pathway that responds to a certain stimulus and triggers at a saturation point, literally the most common cellular mechanism, so entirely plausible in my opinion.

>Could the mucous also be corrosive, similar to stomach acid?
No, but the mucus could be resistant to acids like the mucus lining of the stomach is and you could have another corrosive layer ON TOP of that. Cells aren't very resistant to strong acid and you can't really change that, so you put a barrier inbetween. Also if this is for dissolving the asbestos, read above. You need fluorides to do that and that is not gonna happen.

>Am I getting to autistic?
No, this is a nice thought experiment. We're not drifting into autistic pseudo-scientific "le science is awesome" territory. Yet.

>>2246397
Ok, looking at chrysotile, a portion of it is made up of magnesium ions (Mg3). Could there exist a protein receptor on a macrophage that detects and bonds easily to an asbestos molecule's magnesium bits, and then while consuming the asbestos molecule, sends out hormone signals for more macrophages to come into the infiltrated area and consume the rest of the asbestos?