Pulmonary inflammation and epithelial injury in response to acute ozone exposure in the rat.

To document the time course of the inflammatory response and epithelial injury in the lung following an acute ozone exposure, rats were exposed to 1.0 ppm ozone for periods between 4 and 24 hr. Some of the exposures were followed by postexposure periods in filtered air for up to 20 hr. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) analysis and electron microscopic morphometry on centriacinar regions of lungs fixed by intravascular perfusion were used to assess the degree of pulmonary inflammation and epithelial cell necrosis. Total protein and numbers of neutrophils and epithelial cells in BALF increased as the duration of ozone exposure increased, while BALF macrophages decreased. Quantitation of the neutrophil response in centriacinar lung regions (capillary, interstitial, and epithelial/luminal compartments of the terminal bronchiole and proximal alveolar duct) by morphometry generally correlated with the BALF analysis, and revealed a greater volume per surface area epithelial basal lamina (Vs) of neutrophils in the terminal bronchiole compartments compared to proximal alveoli. Necrosis of epithelial cells in terminal bronchioles, primarily ciliated cells, occurred as early as 4 hr after initiation of ozone exposure, before marked neutrophil migration, and continued during periods of maximal neutrophil influx. We concluded that the early epithelial necrosis in terminal bronchioles during the first few hours of ozone exposure was primarily due to direct ozone toxicity, but could not rule out the possibility of neutrophils contributing to the injury at later time points, especially between 8 and 12 hr of exposure (during periods of maximal neutrophil migration).