Autores: George J. Jakab,1 Ernst Wim. Spannhake,1 Brendan J. Canning,’ Steven R. Kleeberger,1 and Matthew I. Gilmour2 1The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland; 2University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
A review of the literature reveals that ozone (03) exposure can either suppress or enhance immune responsiveness. These disparate effects elicited by 0 exposure depend, in large part, on the experimental design used, the immune parameters examined as well as the animal species studied. Despite the apparent contradictions, a general pattern of response to 03 exposure can be recognized. Most studies indicate that continuous 03
exposure leads to an early (days 0-3) impairment of immune responsiveness followed, with continued exposures, by a form of adaptation to 03 that results in a re-establishment of the immune response. The effects of 03 exposure on the response to antigenic stimulation also depend on the time at which 03 exposure occurred. Whereas 03 exposure prior to immunization is without effect on the response to antigen, 03 exposure subsequent to immunization suppresses the response to antigen. Although most studies have focused on immune responses in the lung, numerous investigators have provided functional and anatomical evidence to support the hypothesis that 03 exposure can have profound effects on systemic immunity.