U. Ulfvarson et al., EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF FILTRATION OF DIESEL EXHAUSTBY BIOLOGIC EXPOSURE INDICATORS, American journal of industrial medicine, 27(1), 1995, pp. 91-106
The airway resistance, compliance of the respiratory system, transfer
factor, and alveolar volume of 33 healthy rabbits were studied before
and after exposure to diluted diesel exhaust generated in an experimen
tal motor. Three diesel fuels and two particle traps were tested. Subs
equent to the post-exposure lung function measurements, the animals we
re sacrificed and the lungs were processed for morphologic examination
. The concentrations of particles, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde
were measured. The inflammatory airway changes were most pronounced in
animals exposed to exhaust from standard fuel. Small changes were ide
ntified in animals exposed to exhaust filtered through the catalytic t
rap as well or exposed to unfiltered exhaust from fuels intended for d
ensely built-up areas. Increase in compliance of the respiratory syste
m was associated with the concentration of soot particles and formalde
hyde. Compliance decreased significantly in animals exposed to exhaust
from standard fuel filtered through the particle traps and increased
almost significantly in animals exposed to unfiltered exhaust from the
same fuel. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.