Greetings Colleagues,

This is the 16th issue of the Inhalation Toxicology and Respiratory Biology newsletter (May issue). The full text and documentary material has been posted at http://www.inhalation.net. We direct your attention to that site for full articles and additional details. For further information, write mailto: newsletter@inhalation.net

Scientific Reviews follow the announcements given below.

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MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Mid-Atlantic Chapter Society of Toxicology is holding their Spring Scientific Meeting, Poster Session & Ambassador Award meeting on Thursday May 22nd, 2003 at the Ramada Inn in East Windsor, NJ. The subject for this meeting is “Chemical and Biological Terrorism: Exposure, Toxicology and Response” and includes presentations on, 1) Responding to Chemical and Biological Attacks: Saudi Arabia to Salina, Kansas, 2) The NIH Response to the Threat of Bioterrorism, 3) Chemical Detection and Detoxification of Chemical Terrorism Agents, and 4) Responding to Biological and Chemical Terrorism. Contact Pete Harvison at 215-596-8979 or p.harvis@usip.edu for further information.

NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT

CH Technologies now offers a 64 port Vaccine Exposure Tower for aerosol and special pathogen use. The initial offering is for Mouse only. The device, fabricated in Switzerland, will be available to qualified institutions for viewing and testing after July 1, 2003. Designed to operate at 2 to 16 lpm air flow, the all stainless steel unit features full negative pressure containment and will fit within a small BSL 3 glove box. Detailed specifications and pictures will be available from mailto:VET_info@toxics.com A six port Rabbit and/or Guinea Pig version is under development.

Scientific Reviews

ANIMAL MODELS (2 Studies)

Airway fibrosis in a mouse model of airway inflammation as presented by Kenyon, NJ, Ward, RW, and Last, JA. In Tox Appl Pharmacology 186:90-100, 2003 is reviewed by Susan G. Shami, ScD, Senior Science Editor. Dr. Shami summarizes, “This is a study of a model of ovalbumin-induced airway inflammation and fibrosis in mice. The authors give detailed evidence that this is a good model to study the time course of airway fibrosis development. Inhibitors of fibrosis are also used allowing the authors to conclude that the model may be useful for the study of new drugs for the treatment of diseases such as asthma and bronchitis.”

HEALTH EFFECTS OF ULTRAFINE PARTICLES (1 study)

Size effect of intratracheally instilled particles on pulmonary inflammation and vascular thrombosis as presented by Nemmar, A., Hoylaerts, M.F, Hoet, P.H.M., Vermylen, J., Nemery, B. in Tox. Appl. Pharm. 186:38-45, 2000, is reviewed by Susan G. Shami, ScD, Senior Science Editor. The authors of this study examined the acute effects of small polystyrene particles administered via intratracheal instillation simultaneously with thrombogenesis produced photochemically. Inflammation was measured within 1 hr after it instillation. Thrombogenesis and inflammation were found to be only partly coupled.

STUDIES ON GENDER: (2 Studies)

Gender differences in odor sensitivity A paper by Ernstgard, L., Gullstrand, E. Lof, A., and Johanson, G. entitled “Are women more sensitive than men to 2-propanol and m-xylene vapours?” in Occup. Environ. Med. 59:759-67, 2002 is reviewed by Arlene L. Weiss, MS DABT Contributing Editor for Toxicology and Epidemiology. “Are women more sensitive than men to 2-propanol and m-xylene vapors?” The authors concluded that women were slightly more sensitive than men to the acute irritative effects of 2-propanol and m-xylene vapors. They reported no significant difference in response to solvent exposure with respect to blinking frequency, lung diffusing capacity, nasal area and volume, inflammatory markers in nasal lavage, and color vision. The authors also reported that the rating of discomfort in the throats or ‘airways’ increased more in women than men during exposure to either solvent.” This review is a follow-up to the summary of articles published in the last two issues of the newsletter.

Gender differences in naphthalene metabolism and naphthalene-induced acute lung injury A paper by by Van Winkle, LS, Gunderson, AD, Shimizu, JA, Baker, GL, and Brown, CD in Am J. Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 282: L1122-L1134, 2002 is reviewed by Susan G. Shami, ScD, Senior Science Editor. This is one of the few inhalation toxicology studies with the intent of studying the differences in toxicity of a compound as it relates to gender. The authors found and described clear gender differences in cytochrome P450 (CYP)-mediated metabolism as well as Clara cell toxicity after exposure to naphthalene. Female mice were more susceptible and the authors discuss possible reasons.

PUBLIC HEALTH, OCCUPATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL HEALTH (3 Studies)

A comparison of techniques to assess regional deposition of aerosol particles in COPD patients A paper by P. Brand, T. Meyer, K. Sommerer, N. Weber, and G. Scheuch. 2002. entitled “Alveolar Deposition of Monodisperse Aerosol Particles in the Lung of Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease” in Experimental Lung Research 28:39-54 2002 is reviewed by Arlene L. Weiss, MS DABT Contributing Editor for Toxicology and Epidemiology. Ms. Weiss comments, “A new technique has recently been proposed, called the Single Breath Regional Deposition (SBRD), which is the subject of this review. This technique quantifies intrapulmonary distribution of particles deposited in the lungs using monodisperse inert and non-radioactive aerosols by measuring particle number concentrations of inhaled and exhaled test particles. These authors investigated the use of this SBRD test in patients with compromised lung function since these tests are purported to be influenced by lung disease. The authors concluded that SBRD should be considered an easy tool to study alveolar deposition in patients whose lung function is compromised.”

An association between household mold levels and respiratory symptoms in infants during their first year of life A paper by Janneane F. Gent, Ping Ren, Kathleen Belanger, Elizabeth Triche, Michael B. Bracken, Theodore R. Holford, and Brian P. Leaderer. 2002. entitled “Levels of Household Mold associated with Respiratory Symptoms in the First Year of Life in a Cohort at risk for Asthma” published in Environ Health Perspect 110(2):A781-786 is reviewed by Arlene L. Weiss, MS DABT Contributing Editor for Toxicology and Epidemiology. Ms. Weiss comments, “As mold awareness increases, investigators are scurrying around to determine the ‘best’ method of mold sampling, the ‘best’ endpoints to measure the ‘best’ confounding factors to include in their analysis and the ‘best’ qualitative versus quantitative aspect of specific mold genera to measure as the independent variable. Since the mid-nineties, there has been an explosion of articles in the peer reviewed published scientific literature with respect to molds.

In summary, these authors report that an infant’s number of days of respiratory symptoms during the first year of life would increase by 20% for each increase in the level of Penicillium. When controlling for the potential confounding of seasons of mold samples, the association between respiratory symptoms and mold exposure holds true for Penicillium, but not for Cladosporium or other molds.”

Do fungi found in different areas of a house as well as those fungi found outdoors match on the genera level? As presented by Ping Ren, Thomas M. Jankun and Brian P. Leaderer 1999. In an article entitled “Comparisons of seasonal fungal prevalence in indoor and outdoor air and in house dusts of dwellings in one Northeast American county” in the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology 9:560-68 is reviewed by Arlene L. Weiss, MS DABT Contributing Editor for Toxicology and Epidemiology. Ms. Weiss comments, “The authors conclude that air sampling in the spring or fall in suspected houses is appropriate for year-round fungal assessment, and represents a medium exposure level.”

RESPIRATORY BIOLOGY (1)

Cellular and molecular characteristics of basal cells in airway epithelium as presented by Evans, MJ, Van Winkle, LS, Fanucchi, MV, Plopper, CG, in Experimental Lung Research 27:401-415, 2001 is reviewed by Susan G. Shami, ScD, Senior Science Editor. Basal cells cover most of the larger airway basement membranes. This review describes most of the functions of the basal cell known in 2000. The location of the basal cell allows it to interact with many other cells and regulate many functions. These functions are reviewed in this paper. This is all quite amazing when one considers that before 1990 the basal cell was almost completely ignored.

STAFF:

Senior Editor/Publisher Rudolph Jaeger, PhD, DABT
Susan Shami, ScD - Senior Science Editor.
Arlene Weiss, MS, DABT - Environmental Medicine/Epidemiology Contributing Editor
Ken Magee, IT Coordinator