 the cytotoxicity of a high purity cornish kaolinite toward mouse peritoneal macrophages in vitro was examined . 
 the material was cytotoxic towards these cells , the activity could be decreased substantially by pretreating the dust with poly(2-vinylpyridine n - oxide ) . 
 pretreatment of the dusts with poly(acrylic acid ) had a small effect on cytotoxicity , but combinations of the polymer treatments virtually abolished the material 's biological activity towards macrophages . 
 these studies indicated that the cytotoxicity of kaolinite is not due to its flakelike morphology.imagesfigure 1 . 
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