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Inhaled Ozone Shuts Down Early Immune Response in Lungs and Body
Though the exposure to ozone, a major component of urban air pollution, has been associated with increased cardiovascular and pulmonary hospitalizations and deaths, the actual mechanisms involved have not been understood.
The Duke-led team found that ozone exposure in mice at levels approximating unhealthy levels for humans appears to enhance lung injury in response to bacterial toxins, but more importantly, it also appears to enhance programmed cell death in critical innate immune system cells that gobble up foreign invaders, keeping the airways clear.
“Small amounts of inhaled foreign material can be relatively harmless, since they stimulate an appropriate innate immune response that protects the lungs,” said John Hollingsworth, M.D., pulmonologist and lead author of study.
“However, it appears that ozone causes the innate immune system to overreact, killing key immune system cells, and possibly making the lung more susceptible to subsequent invaders, such as bacteria,’ he added.
The innate immune system is the most primitive aspect of the body’s defences. Its cells react indiscriminately to any invader. One of the key cells in the innate immune system is known as a macrophage, Greek for “big eater.”
For their experiments, the researchers had mice breathe either room air or air with levels of ozone meant to mirror what an exercising human would experience on a high, or unhealthy, ozone level day. After exposing all mice to the active portion of E. coli bacteria in aerosol form, the researchers studied how the innate immune system
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