Airway responsiveness after acute exposure to urban particulate matter 1648 in a DO11.10 murine model.

Enhanced airway responsiveness (AR) is a well-established characteristic of asthma that epidemiological evidence has linked with inhalation of ambient particulate matter (PM). To determine whether acute exposure to urban particulate matter PM1648 can exacerbate airway responsiveness and alter the early inflammatory state, a unique murine model was created using DO11.10 mice, transgenic for a T cell receptor recognizing ovalbumin(323-339).

Environmental oxygen tension affects phenotype in cultured bone marrow-derived macrophages.

This study tested the hypothesis that the unique phenotype of alveolar macrophages (AM) is maintained through adaptation to the relatively high oxygen partial pressure (P(O2)) of the lung, through modification of redox-sensitive transcription factors. BALB/c mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMC) were differentiated under different P(O2) and compared functionally to AM and peritoneal macrophages (PM). BMC differentiated in normoxia (P(O2) 140 Torr, BMC(high)) were similar to AM in having low phagocytic and antigen presenting cell (APC) activities.