Effect of nitrite therapy on indices of acute lung injury. Male mice were exposed to Cl2 600 ppm, 45 min and then brought back to room air and 30 min thereafter received saline or nitrite 10 mg/kg by IM injection. Mice were continually observed over the next 6 h, and, if they died during this time, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and blood were collected immediately. At 6 h, all mice were killed, and BALF and plasma were collected. A and B: BALF levels of protein and total cell accumulation. *P < 0.01 relative to air, #P < 0.05 relative to Cl2 alone by 1-way ANOVA with Tukey's posttest. C: differential cell analysis. D: viability of BALF inflammatory cells. *P < 0.01 relative to respective + nitrite group by t-test. E: BALF and plasma macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2) levels, *P < 0.01 relative to air and #P < 0.05 relative to Cl2-alone group by 1-way ANOVA with Tukey's posttest. F: BALF and plasma keratinocyte chemokine (KC) levels, *P < 0.01 or #P < 0.05 relative to air, by 1-way ANOVA with Tukey's posttest. All data are means ± SE (n = 5–9).