Vascular and cardiac impairments in rats inhaling ozone and diesel exhaust particles.

Background: Mechanisms of cardiovascular injuries from exposure to gas and particulate air pollutants are unknown.

Objective: We sought to determine whether episodic exposure of rats to ozone or diesel exhaust particles (DEP) causes differential cardiovascular impairments that are exacerbated by ozone plus DEP.

Methods And Results: Male Wistar Kyoto rats (10-12 weeks of age) were exposed to air, ozone (0.