An experimental approach to study the toxicity of nonparticulate air pollutants. I. Rationale and methods.

This report describes an experimental model for studying the toxicity of nonparticulate air pollutants, in terms of a ‘biochemical lesion.’ Changes in chemical composition of lung tissue homogenate, following inhalation of a noxious gas, could neither be traced to a particular tissue component, nor be regarded as solitary unrelated incidents. Biochemical changes in a single kind of cell, separated from the respiratory tract after the animal’s exposure to poisonous gas, may be more directly related to the toxic mechanism of the investigated gas. A technique for isolating epithelium lining the rat trachea has been adapted from a method used to separate tracheal and bronchial epithelia from human autopsy material Ozone was chosen as test gas in this experimental approach because of its importance in photochemical smog and its presence in certain industrial environments.