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Effects of inhaled nitrogen dioxide and diesel exhaust on developing lung. Research report, January 1984-October 1986

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6677164
This study examined the physiological response of both developing and mature rats to inhaled automotive emissions. A total of 384 rats in two age groups (from conception to 6 months and from 6 months to 12 months) were exposed to either 9.5 ppm nitrogen dioxide (NO/sub 2/) or 3.5 mg/cu m of diesel exhaust soot for 7 hours/day, 5 days/week over a six-month period. Body weight, respiratory function, pulmonary immune response, lung clearance of radiolabeled particles, airway fluid enzymes, lung tissue collagen, proteinase, lung burden of diesel soot, lung morphometry, and histopathology were measured. The study concluded that normal lung development was not affected by NO/sub 2/ or diesel exhaust soot. In adults, clearance of soot from the lungs was slower, with the persistence of aggregated macrophages in the alveoli and evidence of septal thickening. Adults exposed to soot or NO/sub 2/ showed a sixfold increase in the percentage of neutrophils in the airways fluid.
Research Organization:
Health Effects Inst., Cambridge, MA (USA)
OSTI ID:
6677164
Report Number(s):
PB-88-234398/XAB; HEI/RR-87/08
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English