Skip to main content
PMC home page
Occupational and Environmental Medicine logoLink to Occupational and Environmental Medicine
. 1999 Aug;56(8):527–534. doi: 10.1136/oem.56.8.527

Bronchoalveolar inflammation after exposure to diesel exhaust: comparison between unfiltered and particle trap filtered exhaust

B Rudell, A Blomberg, R Helleday, M C Ledin, B Lundback, N Stjernberg, P Horstedt, T Sandstrom
PMCID: PMC1757777  PMID: 10492649

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Air pollution particulates have been identified as having adverse effects on respiratory health. The present study was undertaken to further clarify the effects of diesel exhaust on bronchoalveolar cells and soluble components in normal healthy subjects. The study was also designed to evaluate whether a ceramic particle trap at the end of the tail pipe, from an idling engine, would reduce indices of airway inflammation. METHODS: The study comprised three exposures in all 10 healthy never smoking subjects; air, diluted diesel exhaust, and diluted diesel exhaust filtered with a ceramic particle trap. The exposures were given for 1 hour in randomised order about 3 weeks apart. The diesel exhaust exposure apperatus has previously been carefully developed and evaluated. Bronchoalveolar lavage was performed 24 hours after exposures and the lavage fluids from the bronchial and bronchoalveolar region were analysed for cells and soluble components. RESULTS: The particle trap reduced the mean steady state number of particles by 50%, but the concentrations of the other measured compounds were almost unchanged. It was found that diesel exhaust caused an increase in neutrophils in airway lavage, together with an adverse influence on the phagocytosis by alveolar macrophages in vitro. Furthermore, the diesel exhaust was found to be able to induce a migration of alveolar macrophages into the airspaces, together with reduction in CD3+CD25+ cells. (CD = cluster of differentiation) The use of the specific ceramic particle trap at the end of the tail pipe was not sufficient to completely abolish these effects when interacting with the exhaust from an idling vehicle. CONCLUSIONS: The current study showed that exposure to diesel exhaust may induce neutrophil and alveolar macrophage recruitment into the airways and suppress alveolar macrophage function. The particle trap did not cause significant reduction of effects induced by diesel exhaust compared with unfiltered diesel exhaust. Further studies are warranted to evaluate more efficient treatment devices to reduce adverse reactions to diesel exhaust in the airways.

 

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (106.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Attfield M. D., Trabant G. D., Wheeler R. W. Exposure to diesel fumes and dust at six potash mines. Ann Occup Hyg. 1982;26(1-4):817–831. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ayres S. M., Evans R., Licht D., Griesbach J., Reimold F., Ferrand E. F., Criscitiello A. Health effects of exposure to high concentrations of automotive emissions. Studies in bridge and tunnel workers in New York City. Arch Environ Health. 1973 Sep;27(3):168–178. doi: 10.1080/00039896.1973.10666347. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bjermer L., von Schoultz E., Norberg B., Henriksson R. Estramustine inhibits monocyte phagocytosis. Prostate. 1988;13(1):49–55. doi: 10.1002/pros.2990130106. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Blomberg A., Krishna M. T., Bocchino V., Biscione G. L., Shute J. K., Kelly F. J., Frew A. J., Holgate S. T., Sandström T. The inflammatory effects of 2 ppm NO2 on the airways of healthy subjects. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1997 Aug;156(2 Pt 1):418–424. doi: 10.1164/ajrccm.156.2.9612042. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Devlin R. B., McDonnell W. F., Becker S., Madden M. C., McGee M. P., Perez R., Hatch G., House D. E., Koren H. S. Time-dependent changes of inflammatory mediators in the lungs of humans exposed to 0.4 ppm ozone for 2 hr: a comparison of mediators found in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid 1 and 18 hr after exposure. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1996 May;138(1):176–185. doi: 10.1006/taap.1996.0111. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Dockery D. W., Pope C. A., 3rd, Xu X., Spengler J. D., Ware J. H., Fay M. E., Ferris B. G., Jr, Speizer F. E. An association between air pollution and mortality in six U.S. cities. N Engl J Med. 1993 Dec 9;329(24):1753–1759. doi: 10.1056/NEJM199312093292401. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Helleday R., Sandström T., Stjernberg N. Differences in bronchoalveolar cell response to nitrogen dioxide exposure between smokers and nonsmokers. Eur Respir J. 1994 Jul;7(7):1213–1220. doi: 10.1183/09031936.94.07071213. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Reger R., Hancock J., Hankinson J., Hearl F., Merchant J. Coal miners exposed to diesel exhaust emissions. Ann Occup Hyg. 1982;26(1-4):799–815. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Rudell B., Ledin M. C., Hammarström U., Stjernberg N., Lundbäck B., Sandström T. Effects on symptoms and lung function in humans experimentally exposed to diesel exhaust. Occup Environ Med. 1996 Oct;53(10):658–662. doi: 10.1136/oem.53.10.658. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Rudell B., Sandström T., Hammarström U., Ledin M. L., Hörstedt P., Stjernberg N. Evaluation of an exposure setup for studying effects of diesel exhaust in humans. Int Arch Occup Environ Health. 1994;66(2):77–83. doi: 10.1007/BF00383361. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Rudell B., Wass U., Hörstedt P., Levin J. O., Lindahl R., Rannug U., Sunesson A. L., Ostberg Y., Sandström T. Efficiency of automotive cabin air filters to reduce acute health effects of diesel exhaust in human subjects. Occup Environ Med. 1999 Apr;56(4):222–231. doi: 10.1136/oem.56.4.222. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Sandström T., Ledin M. C., Thomasson L., Helleday R., Stjernberg N. Reductions in lymphocyte subpopulations after repeated exposure to 1.5 ppm nitrogen dioxide. Br J Ind Med. 1992 Dec;49(12):850–854. doi: 10.1136/oem.49.12.850. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Sandström T. Respiratory effects of air pollutants: experimental studies in humans. Eur Respir J. 1995 Jun;8(6):976–995. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Seaton A., MacNee W., Donaldson K., Godden D. Particulate air pollution and acute health effects. Lancet. 1995 Jan 21;345(8943):176–178. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(95)90173-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Ulfvarson U., Alexandersson R., Dahlqvist M., Ekholm U., Bergström B. Pulmonary function in workers exposed to diesel exhausts: the effect of control measures. Am J Ind Med. 1991;19(3):283–289. doi: 10.1002/ajim.4700190303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Occupational and Environmental Medicine are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES